Ex-prison guard given probation in bribe case

Molly Ball

Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2004 | 8:49 a.m.

A former prison guard convicted of taking bribes to set up conjugal visits will not go to prison himself, but Tuesday he received the maximum possible probation and fines.

Tony Carlysle, 47, a former supervisor at the minimum-security prison camp near Indian Springs, was sentenced to a total of five years' probation and $7,000 in fines, plus $1,500 restitution.

Carlysle was accused of charging an inmate's fiancee $100 per session to meet and have sex with the inmate. In addition, he and another guard padded their time sheets to show fake overtime, Chief Deputy Attorney General Gerald Gardner said.

In July Carlysle pleaded guilty to one count of misconduct by a public officer, a felony, and one count of conspiracy to commit voluntary sexual conduct between a prisoner and another person, a gross misdemeanor.

Gardner alluded to other instances of official misconduct while asking District Judge Michael Cherry to send Carlysle to prison.

"The state of Nevada can't afford to have its own employees ripping off the state treasury," he said, adding that the attorney general's office wants to demonstrate "zero tolerance for this type of public corruption."

In addition, Gardner said, the conjugal visits scam was a potentially dangerous breach of prison security.

But Cherry said he was swayed by Carlysle's remorse and the fact that he had no previous criminal record.

"As God is my witness, your honor, if I could turn back the hands of time I would not have made the poor decisions I have made," Carlysle told the judge.

Carlysle's lawyer, John Moran III, noted that the crimes were nonviolent and occurred over a short period of time. He said Carlysle was committed to "moving forward" with his life and that giving up his chosen profession, in which he worked for 10 years, should be punishment enough.

Cherry said he was moved by those arguments not to send Carlysle to prison but that he wanted to send a message about the seriousness of the crimes.

"The whole criminal justice system suffers when someone in the criminal justice system commits a crime," the judge said.