(Photo illustration via Canva)
A state corrections officer fired for allegedly assaulting an individual is not entitled to jobless benefits, a judge has ruled.
According to state records, Jordan Nuno was employed by the Eighth Judicial District Department of Corrections as a full-time residential officer at the state-run Ottumwa Residential Facility from 2019 until January 2025, when he was fired.
The Ottumwa facility houses criminal offenders who have been ordered by the court to reside there as a condition of probation or parole. Nuno was tasked with supervising residents, taking periodic resident counts, and addressing any resident conduct issues.
According to the department, the final incident that triggered Nuno’s firing occurred on Dec. 18, 2024, as Nuno was making his rounds in a hallway at the Ottumwa Residential Facility. Based on video surveillance and witness statements, the department alleged that Nuno knowingly and intentionally shoulder-checked a resident of the facility, Jaden Miller, in an overt, unprovoked act of aggression.
Then, as Nuno continued down the hallway, Nuno allegedly directed a racial slur at resident Derek Winston, who is African American, and threatened to assault Winston and have him sanctioned or given jail time.
Nuno, the department alleged, then shoulder-checked Winston in another overt and unprovoked act of aggression, then shoved Winston against the wall.
According to the department, neither resident responded with violence. Immediately after the incident with Winston, Nuno allegedly informed a supervisor he had used force against a resident, and later told Resident Manager Charles Severs he was willing to “take a suspension” for doing so.
Later, when questioned by his superiors about shoulder-checking Miller, Nuno allegedly compared the residential facility to a prison and stated that Miller should have stepped aside as Nuno proceeded down the hallway. The department subsequently fired Nuno.
After he applied for unemployment benefits, Nuno participated in a fact-finding interview with Iowa Workforce Development and, according to an IWD administrative law judge, he “willfully misrepresented” the facts surrounding his dismissal.
“Essentially everything Mr. Nuno (said) was an intentionally false statement,” Administrative Law Judge James Timberland ruled. “Mr. Nuno asserted a resident suddenly approached him, called him a racial slur, and hit him,” and also asserted he was discharged because his manager is a racist, Timberland stated.
Based on the statements he had made to the IWD fact-finder in January, Nuno was awarded unemployment, and he subsequently collected $8,084 in benefits over a 12-week period.
After finding that Nuno misrepresented the facts related to his firing, Timberland recently ruled Nuno had “assaulted” residents of the Ottumwa facility and was ineligible for unemployment benefits. Nuno was ordered to repay the $8,084 in benefits already collected.
Court records show Nuno is currently facing a criminal charge of cruel treatment of a prisoner, a serious misdemeanor, as well as a simple-misdemeanor charge of assault. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and informed the court he intends to mount an affirmative defense of justification and self-defense. A jury trial on the cruel-treatment charge is scheduled for June 23, 2025.
Police officer, school teacher fired from their jobs
Other Iowans whose unemployment cases recently went before an administrative law judge include:
— Leon Spataru, who was fired from the City of Eldridge Police Department in January after the city concluded he was unfit for duty. According to the city, Spataru began working for the department in April 2024 as a full-time police officer.
In August, October and December of 2024 he allegedly told a supervisor he was anxious, fearing for his and his family’s safety, and was stressed to the point of feeling sick. An independent, third-party medical provider later conducted a psychological evaluation and concluded that Spataru was unable to consistently perform the essential functions of the job — after which the city fired him and challenged his application for unemployment benefits.
Administrative Law Judge Daniel Zeno ruled recently that Spataru is eligible for benefits since he had not committed workplace misconduct. “Failure in job performance due to inability or incapacity is not considered misconduct” because such actions are not voluntary, Zeno stated in his ruling.
— Joseph Vannatta, who worked as a high school band instructor for the Cherokee Community School District until he was fired in the spring of 2024. Police had alleged Vannatta “inserted himself in Snapchats” with a student and “continued to get personal” by engaging the student in explicit discussions of sex.
In July 2024, Vannatta pleaded guilty to a charge of harassment. Administrative Law Judge Sean Nelson subsequently found Vannatta was entitled to unemployment benefits, finding the school district had not “met its burden to describe the specific incidents that allegedly violated (state law)” or proven that Vannatta “used his authority to sexually exploit” a student.
The school district appealed that ruling and the state’s Employment Appeal Board recently reversed Nelson’s decision, stating that Vannatta “was charged with a crime and pled to an indictable offense factually related to that crime.” Because an aggravated misdemeanor, such as harassment, constitutes “gross misconduct,” the board ruled, Vannatta is ineligible for unemployment.