MT. WASHINGTON, PA - A Mt. Washington man who claims his civil rights were violated when he was strip-searched after being arrested for not paying child support is suing the Allegheny County Jail and a number of officials.

Michael Rey, 44, is seeking class-action status for his lawsuit on behalf of everyone who has been or will be strip-searched after being arrested for petty crimes -- a growing trend in courts across the country that has resulted in settlements for millions of dollars.

Many state and federal courts have ruled that people arrested for misdemeanors or minor crimes not involving weapons, drugs or violence cannot be strip-searched without "reasonable suspicion" they are hiding a weapon or contraband.

The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects against unreasonable searches by police.

Rey claims in his lawsuit that hundreds of people arrested for misdemeanors and other violations are placed in the Allegheny County jail each month and that at least 5,000 have been strip-searched illegally. Some, he alleges, "have had their civil rights violated on multiple occasions."

The county jail's policy is to strip-search only people arrested for drug-related or violent crimes, said Warden Ramon Rustin, who is named in the lawsuit along with four deputy wardens.

Otherwise, "We search anybody that we suspect of carrying contraband," Rustin said. "But we have to have reasonable suspicion."

An officer or the arresting officer must sign a form requesting that a strip-search be performed. A report must be filled out for each strip-search, Rustin said. "And most of the time, we find contraband," he said, adding that a dismantled handgun was found on an inmate coming into the jail about six months ago.

Rey's attorney, Rob Peirce, declined to comment until county officials had a chance to review the lawsuit, which was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh.

The lawsuit states Rey was arrested Feb. 13 on a non-felony charge of failing to pay child support. On Feb. 14, he was transferred from a holding cell at the County Courthouse to the jail. There, an officer ordered him to remove his clothes in a shower room and performed a visual body cavity search.

County Solicitor Mike Wojcik does not comment on pending litigation, but said it isn't unusual for the jail to be at the center of a lawsuit.

"We face lawsuits from the jail almost on a daily basis," Wojcik said. He could not recall any lawsuit related to strip-searches.