Tuesday, Sept. 30, 1997 | 10:19 a.m.
Prison officials, however, dispute the claims.
"I have a civil suit against the prison," said James Yered. "I was a pharmacist at the prison for 4 1/2 years and I'm a whistleblower about illegal activities in the pharmacy."
Yered declined to state the nature of the wrongdoing because of pending litigation. However, he described the heat put on him by prison officials because of the whistleblowing as "blatant harassment and retaliation."
He said he was subjected to ethnic slurs, and managed to tape-record some of the comments. He added Elliott King, chief pharmacist with the prison system, was among those who made the slurs.
King declined comment, saying he isn't involved in the case.
Yered also alleged that he was summoned to the prison last week where he refused to sign a letter of reprimand. He said he was then wrestled to the ground by Rod Countryman, inspector general of the prison, and two other officials, after Countryman spotted him with a tape recorder in his hand.
Yered was taken to the Carson City Sheriff's Office and charged with three counts of battery.
"I had three people weighing 600 pounds sitting on my back and they're charging me with battery," Yered said.
Countryman declined to comment, saying, "The attorney general's office is handling this. It's a criminal matter. This is the first time this has happened in 25 years."
Yered said he went to the attorney general's office, but got little support. "The AG's office apparently has zero tolerance for sex offenses, but not race harassment," he added.
Bob Harmon, spokesman for the attorney general, said the case is being looked into and so far no evidence of harassment or discrimination has been uncovered.
"I don't think it's a fair statement to say we're only interested in sex harassment cases," he added.
Prison Director Robert Bayer also said he couldn't comment on the case, but denied the system practices any kind of racism.
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