Former guard, acquitted of drug charges, sues Fayette County
A former Fayette County prison guard charged with, and acquitted of, bringing drugs into the prison for an inmate filed a malicious prosecution suit claiming he was framed with the knowledge of police, a former prosecutor and the former prison warden.
Tim Hamborsky, 51, of Connellsville named Fayette County, former warden Larry Medlock, drug task force officer Thomas O’Barto and former district attorney, and now judge, Nancy D. Vernon, in the federal lawsuit.
Hamborsky’s attorney, John P. Smarto, alleged that the three knew an inmate never asked him to bring drugs into the lockup but set him up to take a plastic bag that contained chewing tobacco, four Vicodin pills and money into the prison. He had worked at the prison for 22 years when he was accused of bringing the items into the prison for inmate Erin Spade on Nov. 5, 2008.
Hamborsky was acquitted of all charges in April 2010.
Spade, an inmate at the prison on and off since 1988, was in the county lockup on theft-related charges when he requested a meeting with Medlock in October 2008. Smarto alleged that Spade told the warden he could get Hamborsky to bring contraband into the prison in exchange for leniency.
The suit acknowledged Hamborsky gave Spade chewing tobacco in the past, but indicated he had Medlock’s permission to do so. The filing also indicated that other guards and one deputy warden gave Spade chewing tobacco, too.
That led to O’Barto and Vernon being involved in the case.
In a report, O’Barto indicated that Spade said Hamborsky brought drugs into the prison before, however, at Hamborsky’s preliminary hearing and trial, Spade testified he never said the guard brought drugs into the prison, according to the suit.
The suit alleges that the three agreed to falsify a report “in order to manufacture a criminal case against Hamborsky for which there was no probable cause.”
Authorities left a bag with tobacco, money and the pills in it under a vending machine outside the prison. Hamborsky picked up the bag and went into the prison to start work that evening, and “within seconds” was arrested, according to the suit.
He was arraigned and wrote a statement in which he admitted to bringing in the bag knowing there was tobacco inside but denied knowing there were drugs in there.
Hamborsky was fired one week after his arrest by the county’s prison board, and the suit alleged he was “publicly humiliated in the media and branded a criminal.”
The suit alleged that O’Barto, Medlock and Vernon knew that Hamborsky did not know that there were pills in the bag.
“Otherwise, they would have let the crime play out, which would have placed Hamborsky in a worse position had the delivery occurred. There would have been no way for Hamborsky to defend the criminal charges,” Smarto wrote.
O’Barto and Medlock testified at trial they stopped Hamborsky because they did not want the drugs to make it into the prison population.
Hamborsky testified that he did not know there were pills in the bag and that Medlock and other guards knew he gave Spade tobacco and gave it to him themselves.
After two hours of deliberations, jurors acquitted Hamborsky of all charges on April 7, 2010.
Smarto alleged that O’Barto’s report that Spade said Hamborsky brought drugs in was “false, fraudulent and designed to manufacture a case against Hamborsky that was based on a fiction.”
The filing claimed Medlock wanted Hamborsky fired, O’Barto wanted a successful sting operation, Vernon wanted a high-profile prosecution during her campaign for judge and Spade wanted a plea deal.
In addition to malicious prosecution, the suit alleges fabrication of false evidence and conspiracy. It asks for damages, pay and attorney fees.