By Kelly Monitz
Standard-Speaker
NESQUEHONING, Pa. — Two Carbon County prison officials were terminated in the wake of an investigation into an incident in which a restrained prisoner was allegedly punched, choked and pepper-sprayed.
Carbon County commissioners and the county prison board terminated Warden Timothy Fritz and Corrections Officer Dexter Sandy on Thursday. Both were suspended with pay since March 17, when an investigation into the Feb. 7 incident began.
Gerard A. Babb Jr., another suspended corrections officer, resigned April 6, the day before criminal charges were filed against him in the incident.
Babb’s resignation was effective immediately, said Sheriff Tony Harvilla, reading from a prepared statement.
The prison board, which had hired an outside law firm that specializes in labor and employment to investigate, received a confidential report detailing that investigation April 13, said Harvilla, who chairs the board.
The report recommended the termination of Babb, who had already resigned, and the termination of Fritz and Sandy.
The prison board reconvened Thursday morning to add the terminations to its personnel report, and the commissioners followed suit.
Commissioner Chairman Wayne Nothstein said that the commissioners were not happy about Babb’s resignation, and were advised that they could not terminate a person who already resigned, as the position was vacant.
Babb was charged with simple assault, official oppression, reckless endangerment and harassment in the incident. A preliminary hearing is scheduled May 26 in district court.
State Corrections Secretary John Wetzel, who attended the commissioners’ meeting as the county entered into an agreement with the state for an acting warden, was asked about the action against Fritz.
He said that it was not unusual for the person in charge to be held accountable for things that happen in a facility, or while on their watch.
Wetzel did not have details on the incident and could not comment on it, but said his office was happy to work with the county as a consultant and get it back on track. He has seen similar action taken numerous times during his more than 10-year tenure with the state, he said.
Details of the agreement with the state were not immediately available, but the county welcomed Laura Banta as acting warden at the prison in Nesquehoning.
Banta, who hails from the Panther Valley, is serving as acting superintendent at State Correctional Institution-Retreat. The facility closed last year, but she has been overseeing the process and handling the surplus of items.
Banta has been with the Department of Corrections for 26 years, starting as a corrections counselor at SCI-Mahanoy in 1995 and advanced through as hearing examiner, unit manager, CCPM, deputy superintendent for Centralized Services, and now acting superintendent. She has worked at four SCI facilities — Mahanoy, Waymart, Graterford and Retreat.
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