NJ: Camden County man files suit, alleging wrongful arrest, jailing

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CAMDEN -- A Camden County man says he spent nearly two months in the county jail with no sensible explanation for why he was there.

A lawyer for the county agrees that William Walls III should not have been incarcerated May 17 -- and should not have remained in jail until July 7.

Walls, 43, has filed a federal lawsuit against the Camden County Sheriff's office, the Camden County Correctional Facility, and Camden County, alleging he was wrongfully arrested and incarcerated. He is seeking $10 million in damages.

Walls, who told guards they had the wrong man, said he encountered another man of the same name in jail for failure to pay child support. Jail records do not show another William Walls there during his stay.

Sheriff Mike McLaughlin told The Philadelphia Inquirer for Monday's editions that the suit is baseless.

"What he is saying in this lawsuit is only up to the imagination of the attorney," McLaughlin said. "His attorney is looking to grasp at straws."

Walls has been in prison before -- including three years for theft by deception.

Walls told The Inquirer that both his arrest and his release were strange.

He said he was told he was arrested on a child-support warrant even though he has no children.

Officials say he was brought in on a warrant for failing to appear in court on a domestic matter in 1997. That warrant was revoked in 1998.

Walls' bail was set at $10,000.

Walls said he was released with no explanation -- and that a jail employee told him he spent the 50 days in jail "for nothing."

Assistant County Counsel Howard Wilson said Walls was put in jail and left there because of an inaccurate warrant list from Camden County Superior Court's family division.

The county has filed a suit against the family division, claiming it and not the county should be held liable for any damages.

The Bergen Record

-- Anonymous, December 20, 2000


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