11 jailers busted in a month

By REUVEN BLAU
Last Updated: 12:03 PM, October 10, 2010
Posted: 2:08 AM, October 10, 2010

At least 11 correction officers have been arrested in just the last month for crimes ranging from armed robbery to biting a woman's finger and having sex with an underage inmate -- and sources say the 8,660 member-strong force is on pace for a record-high 250 arrests this year.

"For some of these people, it's just miraculous that they are on one side of the bars, and not the other," said a veteran jail official.

Added a disgusted jail supervisor, "A bunch even have gang tattoos."

Among the laundry list of alleged correction-guard perpetrators is 13-year veteran Roberto Morales, 40, who was charged last week with engaging in a "sexual act" with a minor after moving her into a secluded corner of The Tombs in September 2009, investigators said.

He has since been suspended from his $73,546 a year job after the Oct. 7 arrest and, if convicted, faces up to four year in the clink.

Officer Charles Harris could be donning orange overalls if he's convicted of the Oct. 1 assault and harassment of Verladesh Gilles.

He allegedly pushed her up against the wall, scratched her neck, and bit her finger during an 11:15 p.m. attack in Queens, prosecutors say.

Cops nabbed guard Danny Weathers, 46, on Aug. 26 after he allegedly flashed a fake NYPD badge at passer-by Dennis Cummings and ordered him into his car in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

Weathers robbed the victim at gunpoint, taking his wallet with $250 and a DVD player, investigators say.

Weathers was charged with robbery, menacing, petit larceny and criminal possession of a weapon.

Correction spokeswoman Sharman Stein insisted those arrested "comprise a fraction of the 10,000 correction professionals. The illegal actions of the few fly in the face of the many and the principles for which we stand as law enforcement professionals.

"The department moves swiftly to take the appropriate disciplinary action."

Meanwhile, the off-duty gun-totting Rikers Island guard shot in the arm by cops who fired at least 20 bullets wasn’t even supposed to be out of his house.

Intoxicated turnkey Victor Hernandez was out on sick leave last week after he claimed he injured his back during a fight with an inmate on Sept. 23, according to two jail sources.

Under strict department rules, officers must stay in their house while on sick leave except to go to doctors. Witnesses say Hernandez was out drinking at Club Legends in The Bronx before the shooting unfolded on Third Avenue off East 161st Street.

The four-year veteran, who worked at Rikers Island’s Otis Bantum Correction Center, has already been suspended without pay.

Video surveillance tape from the shootout showed Hernandez training the gun on the officers, who took cover behind a van, for about 30 seconds before the cops opened fire, sources said. Hernandez was charged with menacing and reckless endangerment.

rblau@nypost.com

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