A former Arizona jail inmate alleges in a lawsuit that a detention officer endangered his life a year ago by revealing to gang members that he was helping investigators as an informant.
Officer Kevin Holsom is accused of threatening to harm Antonio Andres Lechuga over a jail intercom and opening his cell and those of Mexican Mafia members so they could attack him. The lawsuit says an officer managed to close Lechuga's cell door before inmates could get to him, but he still fears being attacked.
"Lechuga is living his life looking over his back at all times," said his attorney, Keith Knowlton, in the lawsuit filed late last week.
Lechuga alleged Holsom was doing the bidding of gang members and breached the agency's agreement to not reveal his role as a confidential informant for jail investigators. The lawsuit also accused Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office, which runs the jails in metro Phoenix, of being negligent in supervising Holsom.
Earlier this year, the 30-year-old officer was indicted on charges of participating in a criminal street gang. Holsom, who remains employed by the sheriff's office but is on paid leave, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The lawsuit is among countless legal complaints filed over the years that focused on the sheriff's treatment of inmates.
The six-term sheriff has won support from voters who approve of his steps to toughen jail conditions, such as housing inmates in canvas tents during Phoenix's triple-digit summer heat and making them wear pink underwear. During Arpaio's 22 years as sheriff, the county has paid more than $30 million in settlements, judgments and legal costs in cases over jail treatment, including lawsuits filed over inmate deaths.
Holsom doesn't have a listed phone number. Arpaio's office and the law firm defending Holsom in the criminal case declined to comment on the lawsuit.
At the time, Lechuga was in jail on suspicion of misconduct involving weapons after probation officers say they found a handgun at his home. He later pleaded guilty to misconduct involving weapons.
