Friday, Sept. 9, 2005 | 9:20 a.m.
SUN CAPITAL BUREAU
CARSON CITY -- An armed correctional officer, fired because he was found sleeping while guarding a prisoner, has lost his appeal to be reinstated.
State Hearing Officer Bill Kockenmeister, in a decision released Wednesday, found there was "reliable, probative and substantial evidence" that Officer John Caparaz was sleeping while guarding a prisoner at Washoe Medical Center in Reno in July 2004.
Kockenmeister said that sleeping on duty while carrying a weapon is a breach of security within the prison system. Caparaz was the weapons officer in charge of the detail at the hospital.
Caparaz, a seven-year veteran in the prison system with a good record, denied he was asleep. He said he was watching television. The inmate, who was in the Intensive Care Unit, was handcuffed to the bed.
A nurse at Washoe Medical Center said she entered the room about 1 p.m. in response to a monitor alarm and saw Caparaz with his eyes closed.
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