The Arizona sheriff at the forefront of the investigation into the abduction of Nancy Guthrie has been slapped with a lawsuit in an unrelated case.
A lawsuit was filed against Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos as well as the Pima County Sheriff’s Department by an inmate seeking $1.35 million, Newsweek reported.
Christopher Michael Marx as alleged his life was endangered from a COVID-19 outbreak in the prison in a lawsuit was filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.
Marx is an inmate at the Pima County Jail. He alleged Nanos and the department violated Article Two of the Arizona State Constitution — known as the Declaration of Rights.
According to Newsweek, Marx alleged his life was put in jeopardy after a sheriff’s deputy did not disinfect himself. He claimed Nanos was not working to ensure COVID-19 was being contained. Another unit was in quarantine after an inmate contracted the virus.
“I could have died,” the inmate wrote in the lawsuit, referring to possibly contracting the virus.
Marx is seeking the compensation to buy apartments for the unhoused, he said. He also wants an apology from Nanos and has asked the police department to “make sure that they properly disinfect their bodies when the deputies are working two units at a time and one of these units is quarantined.”
Nanos has been in the forefront, gaining national attention in the search for Nancy Guthrie.
The 84-year-old mother of “Today” host Savannah Guthrie was reported missing Feb. 1.
