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Friday, April 19, 2024 | Back issues
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Not Funny, Miss Nevada|Tells L.A. Sheriff

LOS ANGELES (CN) - Los Angeles County sheriff's officers busted into the wrong apartment and forced a former Miss Nevada to get out of bed naked, watched her do it, then joked that she would "have a story to tell others at Thanksgiving," the woman and her fiance claim in Superior Court.

Caleche Ranae Manos and her fiance, Eric Otto Ryder, sued Los Angeles County and its Sheriff's Department.

Manos, Miss Nevada 2007, lives with her fiancé in an apartment in Santa Monica. She claims the deputies raided their apartment "A," brandishing guns, in the early morning of Nov. 15, 2011. The search warrant was for apartment "C" and both doors are clearly marked, Manos says in the complaint.

She and her fiance were asleep.

"The sheriff deputies brandished their firearm[s] and pointed them at Mr. Ryder, who was not fully dressed and who was in shock," the complaint states. "The deputies then immediately proceeded to enter the plaintiffs' bedroom."

"At that time Ms. Manos was still in bed and was naked. The sheriff deputies, all of which were male and armed with guns, ordered Ms. Manos to get out of bed and then watched as she attempted to do so. The sheriff deputies detained the plaintiffs and subjected them to a search and questioning, all while keeping the plaintiffs at gunpoint and treating them in a rough and rude fashion."

Manos says she and Ryder told the deputies there was no basis for their instruction. She says: "It took the sheriff deputies a significant amount of time before they realized that they had executed the search warrant on the wrong apartment. The search warrant was meant to be executed on unit 'C' and not where the plaintiffs resided, which is clearly marked as unit 'A.'"

The couple claims: "At no time did the sheriff deputies offer an apology for the detainment, humiliation, rough treatment, and horror attendant to their invasion of the plaintiffs' home without any probable cause. Instead of apologizing, the sheriff deputies joked and stated to the plaintiffs that they would now have a story to tell others at Thanksgiving."

Manos and Ryder seek damages for negligence, false imprisonment and violations of civil rights and the Constitution.

Manos also accuses the deputies of sexual harassment and discrimination, and says they made her get out bed naked because she is a woman.

"Plaintiff Caleche Ranae Manos was harmed as she has suffered and continues to suffer emotional distress, humiliation, mental anguish, and embarrassment, as well as the manifestation of physical symptoms," the complaint states.

Manos and Ryder are represented by Matthew Geragos.

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