LV woman sues Metro for $6 million

Monday, March 15, 1999 | 11:04 a.m.

A Las Vegas woman is suing the Metropolitan Police Department and a Clark County Detention Center corrections officer who pleaded guilty to sexually fondling her. She is seeking $6 million.

Raymond Jay Harts, 34, pleaded guilty last March to using his position as a jail guard to sexually victimize a female prisoner he supervised.

On Friday, Yvette Tolles, through her attorney, Thomas Fitzpatrick, filed a civil rights lawsuit that also named Clark County as a defendant. She is seeking $1 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages.

"She was locked in a cell and had no way to get away," Fitzpatrick said today. "I'm sure the jury will see that this was a horrible assault on my client and compensate her accordingly."

Harts originally was charged with misconduct involving four female prisoners but agreed to the plea bargain that would let him avoid the possibility of life prison sentences for convictions on those counts.

Initial charges included sexual assault, engaging in voluntary sexual conduct with a prisoner, coercion, open and gross lewdness and indecent exposure.

Harts instead pleaded guilty to voluntary sexual conduct with a prisoner, admitting only that he had fondled one of the women he supervised. For that, he faced the possibility of four years in prison but was sentenced last August to one year in prison.

The incident involving Tolles occurred in January 1998. Harts was suspended Feb. 10, 1998, and resigned a month later as part of the plea deal.