By Richard Gazarik
Tribune-Review
GREENSBURG, Pa. — Westmoreland County paid $75,000 to a former female corrections officer to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit she filed against the county prison and its officials.
A second lawsuit filed against the prison was dismissed last month by a federal judge.
Kimberley Picchiarini-Pallo, 34, of Rostraver settled the suit in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh in March against the prison, Warden John Walton, Deputy Warden Steve Cmar and Lt. John Hostoffer.
The amount of the settlement was released through a Right to Know request submitted to the county by the Tribune-Review.
Picchiarini-Pallo accused prison officials of threatening to fire her unless she had sex with her supervisors, according to the suit.
She portrayed the jail as a “good old boys club” where male officers solicited sex from female officers. She accused Walton of knowing about the harassment and failing to stop it.
The county described Picchiarini-Pallo as insubordinate and unprofessional in her duties as a corrections officer.
The estate of Corey Kardos had sued the prison and Walton, deputy wardens Edward Zalewski and Amos Rager, Officer Paul Carnes and three unidentified officers, along with members of the medical staff.
Kardos, 23, was a heroin addict who died March 9, 2009, while he was an inmate at the prison, the suit said.
Kardos was arrested in 2009 by state police for having 20 bags of heroin in his possession. He was taken to the prison where he began to experience withdrawal symptoms.
He told medical personnel that he used between 15 and 20 bags of heroin a day, court records show.
The suit accused prison medical personnel employed by Birminingham, Ala.-based NaphCare, a private company, of being “completely indifferent to the situation” involving Kardos.
One guard and several inmates said Kardos could hardly stand, was disoriented, staggering and was suffering with profuse sweating, vomiting and diarrhea before he was transferred to the prison’s medical unit, according to the suit.
NaphCare officials said that Kardos’ situation was not life-threatening and that his vital signs were normal when he was placed in the medical unit.
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