Brett Kelman

The Desert Sun

A Riverside County correctional deputy who once led jail staff in overtime pay was fired after he fell asleep watching movies on duty – all while collecting $60 per hour during an overtime shift.

Now, two years later, he might get his job back.

Florin Blaj, an eight-year correctional deputy, was fired by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department for neglect, negligence and dishonesty in 2015. But Blaj successfully appealed the termination last year, and now the sheriff's department is on the defensive. Agency attorneys filed a lawsuit this week asking a county judge to intervene so they don't have to put Blaj back on the jail staff.

That lawsuit thrust Blaj’s case into the public eye, revealing the circumstances of his firing for the first time and calling into question the veracity of overtime pay he collected before he was fired.

Blaj racked up $132,000 in overtime pay in 2013 and 2014, effectively doubling his salary. Blaj collected more overtime than any other correctional deputy in Riverside County, and was among the highest overtime collectors of thousands of California county jail guards.

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The incident that led to Blaj’s firing began on Valentine’s Day 2015, while he was working a night shift in a security room that controls cell doors at the Temecula jail. At about 11 p.m., jail staff became concerned because Blaj stopped answering his radio, so a supervisor went to investigate to ensure Blaj hadn’t been injured or taken hostage by inmates.

At the security room, the supervisor discovered that Blaj was just fine. However, he also noticed a charging cable plugged into a wall outlet and a portable speaker on the floor. Correctional officers are forbidden from bringing electronics into the jail out of concern they will fall into the hands of inmates.

When questioned, Blaj allegedly denied he had any electronics, then later admitted he had brought a tablet and a cell phone into the jail.

This denial, it turns out, was what ultimately got him fired.

According to sheriff’s department documents, Chief Deputy Geoffrey Raya, the head of the corrections department, has said that if Blaj had told his supervisor the truth, he would likely have received only an eight-hour suspension for falling asleep, watching movies and sneaking a cell phone into the jail.

But because Blaj lied at first, Raya felt “compelled to terminate,” documents state.

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Those documents come from Blaj’s administrative appeal hearing, which is a confidential proceeding guaranteed to sheriff’s deputies as part of their union contract. During that appeal, Blaj did not deny he fell asleep or brought electronics into the jail, but argued that he didn’t lie about the electronics, and that even if he did, one lie did not justify termination.

The case arbitrator, Robert Steinberg, ultimately agreed, saying the sheriff’s department should have given Blaj a 30-day suspension instead of firing him. Steinberg ordered the sheriff's department to reinstate Blaj and give him backpay amounting to about a year's salary.

Blaj’s ability to patrol the jail was not compromised by just one lie, Steinberg said.

“While one singular lie is a dishonest act, and dishonesty is considered as taboo for a peace officer, not all lies are alike and not all peace officers are alike,” Steinberg wrote in his ruling.

Most often, that ruling would bring an end to the case, and Blaj would get his job back. In this case, however, the sheriff’s department has taken the unlikely step of challenging Steinberg’s ruling in court. The first court hearing has been set for May 5.

Neither Blaj's attorney, Stephen Chulak, nor the sheriff department's attorney, Anthony Snodgrass, responded to requests for comment. The sheriff's department declined to comment, citing a policy against discussions of ongoing litigation.

Blaj's appeal documents also mention that a second correctional deputy, Daniel Alvarez, was also caught with a cell phone in the security room on the same evening. It appears Alvarez was not fired and he is not a party in the ongoing lawsuit.

Reporter Brett Kelman can be reached at 760 778 4642 or by email at brett.kelman@desertsun.com. You can also follow him on Twitter at @TDSbrettkelman.