By Jeff Proctor
Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE, NM — Former Metropolitan Detention Center Lt. Jason Ellis says he signed a deal last week to come back to work with a demotion and 30-day suspension, provided he drop an employment complaint he had filed against Bernalillo County.
Deputy County Manager for Public Safety Tom Swisstack has said Ellis dropping his complaint, which was filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, was part of early negotiations but was scuttled by the time Ellis signed the deal Feb. 22.
On Tuesday, Swisstack conceded that the EEOC complaint was indeed a condition of Ellis’ return to the massive West Side jail.
Asked to explain the two different stories, he said: “I guess I didn’t realize that the complaint was part of the deal.”
“I wasn’t lying,” Swisstack said. “But I’m not going to make excuses. It’s my fault.”
On Feb. 23, the Journal requested the document Ellis signed but received no response until Tuesday. That violates IPRA, which allows three business days to respond to requests.
Swisstack said the county would provide the document today.
Reached by telephone Tuesday, Ellis declined to discuss the specifics of his EEOC complaint.
Hours after he signed the deal to come back, Ellis learned that a new allegation against him had surfaced and that MDC Director Ramon Rustin planned to put him on administrative leave while the claim was investigated. So Ellis backed out of the agreement, according to a county spokeswoman.
But Swisstack said the deal is back in place, and Ellis is now on administrative leave with pay.
Ellis was fired in late November after investigators determined that he falsified reports that his car windows had been smashed out in the jail parking lot; used pepper spray on a female inmate against MDC policy; and doctored subordinates’ time sheets after being accused of retaliating against them through undesirable overtime assignments.
As of last week, Ellis’ EEOC complaint was still pending, according to a county spokeswoman.
Copyright 2011 Albuquerque Journal