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Prison guard loses appeal

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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