An Arizona inmate is suing Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos and his department, the investigators handling the Nancy Guthrie investigation, for over $1 million — alleging the top cop and his deputies put his life at risk by not adhering to COVID-19 protocols, according to court documents.
Christopher Michael Marx, an inmate at Pima County Jail, filed the lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Arizona on March 5, while Nanos and his deputies have been criticized over the lack of any real leads in their months-long investigation into Guthrie’s disappearance.
Marx claimed in the filing that his life was endangered after a sheriff deputy at Pima County Jail was working between a unit where an inmate with COVID-19 was in quarantine and his unit, according to court documents obtained by The Post.
“This deputy was going back and forth working both units … our unit was on lockdown because this deputy was working both units,” Marx wrote in the lawsuit.
While working between the units, including serving dinner, the sheriff deputy allegedly did not wipe down his body to sanitize himself from the highly contagious virus, the filing continued.
Neither Sheriff Nanos nor his deputies were effectively trying to contain the coronavirus from spreading, which represented a “threat” to Marx’s safety, the documents alleged.
“This put my life in jeopardy with their action, constantly,” Marx wrote. “I could have died.”
The inmate — who was found guilty of shoplifting in late 2024, according to Newsweek — claimed that Nanos and the department violated Article Two of the Arizona State Constitution, known as the Declaration of Rights, through the threat to his safety and “cruel and unusual punishment.”
The inmate is suing for “an apology from the sheriff” and a whopping $1,350,000 so he can donate to two apartment buildings used to house the formerly homeless.
Marx’s lawsuit is also seeking that Nanos and the department ensure they properly disinfect their bodies while working between quarantined units.
A chorus of critics has accused Nanos of letting his ego and vendetta against the FBI get in the way of the hunt for “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s 84-year-old mother, Nancy, who was reported missing on Feb. 1.
“It is a common belief in this agency that this case has become an ego case for Sheriff Nanos,” Sgt. Aaron Cross, president of the Pima County Deputies Organization, previously told The Post.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
