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Ohio jail guard punished after inmate poses as nurse

Posted at 8:24 AM, Oct 25, 2019
and last updated 2019-10-25 10:24:31-04

CUYAHOGA COUNTY, Ohio (WJW) – An Ohio corrections officer has been punished for not locking a door, allowing an inmate to dress up as a nurse and wander through the jail posing as a medical professional.

Last spring authorities said the incident involved Cuyahoga County inmate Sara Kotecki. Officials at the time said they considered that an attempted escape.

Now, corrections officer William Winkel has been suspended five days.

His discipline letter shows he escorted an inmate to the “6th floor dispensary” and “failed to secure the door.”

The inmate then got into a medical administrator’s office grabbing an ID badge, a laptop, a MetroHealth binder, and something to drink.

The letter says the inmate later was confronted by other guards on the tenth floor.

Investigators said Kotecki did not get out of the jail at that time, but she has since been indicted on an escape charge for the incident.

Current court records show she is wanted by authorities. She had been sent to a drug treatment program in connection with another case, but she has not come back to court.

Read the suspension letter.