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Former county inmate settles lawsuit

Shultz to receive $25,000 settlement over assault in prison

HOLLIDAYSBURG — A lawsuit filed against Blair County, its prison and prison board and a former prison corrections officer has been settled for $25,000.

Blair County commissioners on Tuesday authorized Nova Casualty Insurance Co. to issue a settlement payment to Creig Shultz, a former inmate at Blair County Prison who filed the civil lawsuit in March with the U.S. District Court in Johnstown.

Shultz, in the lawsuit, charged that his right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment was violated on March 16, 2017, when fellow inmates tried unsuccessfully to remove tobacco from his rectum.

The inmate had put the plastic-wrapped tobacco into his rectum so it wouldn’t be found and confiscated as contraband while he was being moved within the prison.

Shultz’s lawsuit also accused former corrections officer Dalton Zeiders, who was on the job at the time of the assault, of failing to intervene and for allowing inmates to be out of their cells when they should have been locked inside.

Pittsburgh attorney Kevin R. Lomupo, who filed the lawsuit on Shultz’s behalf, enumerated three civil rights violations and asked for $150,000 each in damages.

The Mirror contacted Lomupo’s office on Tuesday, but he was unavailable for comment.

Commissioners offered no comments at Tuesday’s meeting about the lawsuit and allowed County Administrator Helen Schmitt to announce the pending settlement payment by the insurance company.

Pittsburgh attorney Suzanne B. Merrick, who represented the county and associated parties in addressing the federal lawsuit, said Tuesday afternoon that the agreement leading to the insurance payment reflected no admission of liability by any party.

Meanwhile, the criminal charges are still pending against Zeiders, whose case has been delayed several times and is now listed for review during a July 8 list of pending trials. Zeiders, who was arrested in August 2017 and remains free on bail, is charged with criminal conspiracy, assault by a prisoner, unlawful restraint, simple assault, reckless endangerment, harassment and official oppression.

All but one of the six in­mates charged in assaulting Shultz have been sentenced to lengthy incarceration per­iods, based on trial convictions or the rendering of guil­ty pleas. They are Charles M. Frank at 28 to 56 years; Zachary Moore at 14 to 28 years; Maurice D. Wakefield II at nine to 18 years; Allen Grager at eight to 20 years; and Curtis “Tank” Ramsey at six to 12 years.

The sixth inmate, Dalaun Carroll, was included on Friday’s list of guilty pleas to be rendered in county court, but his case was rescheduled for Aug. 23. Carroll has been out of prison on unsecured $75,000 bail since late December.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 946-7456.

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