Guard Settles Suit, Agrees To Resign Admits Officials Had Grounds For Firing Her

Sandra “Sunny” Pilkington, a Geiger Corrections Center guard who was fired in 1992 for an alleged sexual relationship with an inmate, has admitted that officials had “reasonable grounds” to terminate her.

Pilkington, who was caught alone with inmate Walter Zachman, agreed to settle a lawsuit against Spokane County on Thursday, stating that officials had cause to terminate her.

Although Pilkington got her job back through union arbitration in 1994, she also agreed to resign from the corrections center and drop all charges in a lawsuit she had filed against the county and 10 officials. The suit claimed that officials had improperly fired her and conspired to fabricate evidence to support their actions.

In exchange, Spokane County will pay Pilkington $10,000, far less than the $500,000 or more that she and her attorney, William Maxey, had sought.

“The truth came out through this whole ordeal,” said James Lindow, the retired county administrator who had fired Pilkington. “It’s unfortunate that it had to go on this long, with large amounts of money spent on both sides.”

County attorney Tim Durkin said it might have cost the county $200,000 to defend itself in court.

Maxey said Pilkington acknowledges that officials had evidence that they believed justified her firing. However, she continues to deny that she had sex with Zachman, or did anything wrong.

“Mrs. Pilkington determined she would like to move forward with her life and put this stressful chapter behind her so she entered into a compromise,” Maxey said.

Durkin offered a different version of the settlement. He said it occurred because of mounting evidence that showed Pilkington, a county employee, and Zachman, a prisoner of the county, were sexually involved in the spring of 1992.

“They would go into an enclosed area, sit on a bench and have sex,” Durkin said. “She would bring him there.”

Durkin said that the county is mulling whether to file criminal charges against Pilkington for allegedly making false claims and conspiring with a jailed convict to conceal evidence from authorities.

Pilkington could not be reached for comment.

In addition to Spokane County, defendants cleared in the settlement were Michael Horstman, Edwin Rosario, James Key, Gary Oberg, Kay Walters, Mike Pannek, Charles Hagens, Ray Garcia, Dave Nauta and Lindow.

Judge Richard Miller of Adams County Superior Court presided over the settlement.

However, a whistleblower complaint against the same officials is still pending.

A Seattle attorney who helped investigate that complaint concluded last year that Geiger officials covered up a scheme to falsely accuse Pilkington. The attorney found that officials had urged one inmate to remain silent about information that could have cleared Pilkington and had allowed a doctored videotape to be used against her.

Durkin said the county failed earlier to support its decision to fire Pilkington because the Bureau of Prisons decided to protect the identity of key informants in the case.

Most of those witnesses, including inmate Margaret McCauley, were later released to testify.

McCauley alerted officials to a rendezvous in the plumbing supply building, Durkin said. As Geiger officials looked on, Pilkington brought Zachman to the building. Another guard followed them in and allegedly interrupted the pair in an embrace.

Zachman, who was immediately moved to the Spokane County Jail, initially denied any involvement with Pilkington. But later he confessed to a two-month sexual relationship with Pilkington, Durkin said.

The day after Zachman was moved to the county jail, two women who knew Pilkington paid him a visit, Durkin said. Their purpose, Durkin said, was to coach Zachman to corroborate his story with Pilkington’s.

Zachman, who finished his first jail sentence, was convicted a second time for conspiracy to manufacture marijuana. He is scheduled for release July 6 from the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac.