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Correctional officer fired for inmate foot massage gets job back

Correctional Officer Leodegario Buan will be reinstated to his previous position with a year’s worth of backpay totaling about $50,000

By C1 Staff

GUAM — A ruling from the Civil Service Commission just granted a correctional officer, terminated for allowing an inmate to give him a foot massage, his job back.

Correctional Officer Leodegario Buan will be reinstated to his previous position with a year’s worth of backpay totaling about $50,000, reports KUAM.

His termination was changed to a 30-day suspension.

During the hearings for Buan’s appeal of his termination, commissioners cited five outstanding performance reports stemming from 1999 and noted that the case was the first time Buan had had any adverse action taken against him.

DOC Director Jose San Agustin stands by Buan’s termination, despite the DOC’s reinstatement of the officer.

“I stand behind the action that this department took against Officer Buan because they demonstrated his deliberate abuse of authority over inmates in his care and custody,” Agustin said. “However, the Civil Service Commission saw otherwise.

“Ultimately, I opted to settle this case to save the government money in time-consuming litigation.”

Agustin said that Buan would be retrained and that proper supervision would be added for all correctional staff to ensure that such an incident does not reoccur.

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