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| Prison officer charged with helping gang |
| By Press-Enterprise |
| Published: 07/30/2004 |
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A correctional officer at the California Institution for Men in Chino was arrested Thursday on suspicion of helping the Nazi Low Riders prison gang distribute drugs and assault inmates, officials said. Shayne Allyn Ziska, 43, of Fontana was arrested after being indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Kamenstein. Ziska is charged with participating in a Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, conspiracy, two counts of violent crime in aid of racketeering and two counts of deprivation of rights, he said. Ziska is accused of assisting the Nazi Low Riders, a white supremacist organization with a philosophy centered on "racial pride." The group controls a significant portion of illegal activities committed by white inmates in California prisons, according to the Department of Justice. Kamenstein said Ziska conspired to distribute drugs such as methamphetamine and heroin to inmates around 1997 to 1999. He's also accused of allowing Nazi Low Riders members to assault two inmates with deadly weapons. One inmate was stabbed under his eye, and another inmate was sliced across his neck. Ziska has worked for the California Institution for Men since January 1984, said California Department of Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton. He worked in Reception Center Central, an area in the prison where inmates are taken before being assigned a permanent location, said Capt. T.J. Padilla. He was placed on paid administrative leave in October 2000, Thornton said. He was given clerical work at the Department of Corrections' Southern Region Camp headquarters in Ontario about eight months ago, and the prison is now determining whether to relieve him of his duties altogether, Padilla said. Ziska is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Kamenstein said. If convicted of all counts, he could face a maximum of 80 years in prison. |
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