Abducted man sues private prison, St. E’s

The inmate escaped from the hospital, where he was being treated.

YOUNGSTOWN — An Austintown man who said he was carjacked by an escaped federal prisoner in a St. Elizabeth Health Center parking lot and held at gunpoint for three hours as the man drove him to the Columbus area, sued the hospital and the prison.

Richard Orto Sr., 53, of Innwood Drive, filed the lawsuit this week against St. Elizabeth and the Corrections Corp. of America’s Northeast Ohio Correctional Center on Hubbard Road.

He alleges the April 2 carjacking, spawned by neglect of proper security precautions, caused him “extreme mental agony and emotional distress.”

The suit, which seeks damages in excess of $25,000 and demands a jury trial, was filed in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court by Atty. John A. McNally III.

Escape from hospital

The prisoner, Billy Jack Fitzmorris, escaped from the hospital, where he was being treated, after using a homemade knife to overpower, disarm and handcuff a NOCC guard, police said. Fitzmorris took another guard and two nurses hostage for about 15 minutes, donned the overpowered guard’s uniform, fled the hospital and carjacked Orto with the guard’s .38-caliber revolver, authorities said.

Orto managed to escape when Fitzmorris stopped at a Columbus area convenience store.

Fitzmorris went on to rob two central Ohio banks, wreck the car in Hilliard and hold two more women hostage, before surrendering in Hilliard and being held in Franklin County jail on multiple charges.

Tina Creighton, hospital public information officer, said she couldn’t comment specifically on the suit, but she said the hospital “strives to provide a safe and secure environment for all our visitors and patients.” Orto and a NOCC representative could not be reached to comment.