Woman impregnated at detention center gets settlement

Thursday, Nov. 6, 1997 | 11:01 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A 24-year-old woman who was impregnated by a counselor 10 years ago at the state Girls Training Center in Caliente will receive a $224,895 settlement from the state.

The Nevada Board of Examiners Wednesday unanimously voted to pay the claim of Michelle Schmitz. She gave birth to the child and now lives in Southern California.

The counselor, Gary Richey, was prosecuted at the time for statutory sexual seduction and served five months in jail. Procedures have since been changed to ensure that male counselors are not left alone with female inmates.

Schmitz filed her claim in 1994.

In other business Wednesday, the board:

Former Highway Patrol Trooper John Henke thought Flores made a move for a weapon and the officer fired a shot, with the bullet hitting the pavement and ricocheting into the foot of Flores. Flores suffered additional injuries when he was pushed to the ground with a knee in his back.

The troopers making the check on Flores mistook him for another individual wanted on a drug warrant. Solicitor General Mark Ghan said the state could have faced a court judgment of $1 million.

The attorney general's office said that if it had lost the appeal, the total payment from the state might have been more than $700,000 because fees for Howard's attorney would be added.

Howard, based in Beatty, claimed she was the victim of a hostile workplace because of misdeeds by other patrolmen and she didn't get any help from Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa's office when she appealed to it.

The highway patrol maintained that the complaints of Howard were investigated and that officers were disciplined.

The board said there was no evidence the state was negligent.