An inmate at the Pima County Jail has filed a $1.35 million federal lawsuit against Sheriff Chris Nanos and the Pima County Sheriff's Department, claiming a deputy endangered his life by shuttling between jail units, one of which was quarantined for COVID-19, without bothering to disinfect.

Christopher Michael Marx filed the suit on March 5 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. The timing is notable. Nanos is already under scrutiny for his department's handling of the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of TV presenter Savannah Guthrie, who went missing from her home near Tucson on February 1.

The lawsuit and the missing-persons case are unrelated in substance. But they land on the same desk, and they paint a picture of a sheriff's department catching fire from multiple directions at once.

The Lawsuit

Marx's complaint is straightforward. He alleges a deputy worked both his unit and a quarantined unit simultaneously, creating a biological hazard for inmates who could not leave or protect themselves, Newsweek reported.

"This deputy was going back and forth working both units; our unit was on lockdown because this deputy was working both units."

Marx claims the deputy's movement between units without sanitation protocols constituted, in his words, "a threat to my safety because this put my life in jeopardy with their action, constantly." He says he "could have died."

The lawsuit invokes Article 2 of the Arizona state Constitution, the Declaration of Rights, and requests $1,350,000 in damages. Marx also asks the department to implement a specific policy change: requiring deputies to properly disinfect when working two units simultaneously, particularly when one is under quarantine.

Marx additionally stated he intends to donate a portion of any award, offering someone "6 months rent free, no strings attached."

It's worth noting what Marx was in jail for. According to data available on the Pima County Justice Court's website, he was found guilty of shoplifting in late 2024. A shoplifter is suing the sheriff's department for $1.35 million over deputy hygiene protocols. That's the state of the American legal system.

Newsweek contacted both the Pima County Sheriff's Office and Marx's attorney, William John Parven, by email on Monday morning. Neither had commented as of publication.

A Sheriff Already Under Pressure

This lawsuit arrives while Nanos is leading the local investigation into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, a case that has drawn national attention. The 84-year-old mother of three is believed to have been forcibly removed from her home. The FBI has offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to her location or the arrest of anyone involved. The Guthrie family has offered $1 million.

Nanos told NBC News last week that his homicide unit is working alongside the FBI and that they are operating on the assumption that Guthrie is still alive. He also admitted to making mistakes in the investigation's early stages, including releasing the crime scene too quickly.

That admission has not gone unnoticed within his own ranks. Sergeant Aaron Cross, who presides over the Pima County Deputies Organization, told the New York Post that colleagues have accused Nanos of turning the investigation into a personal "ego case."

So here is where Nanos sits: publicly acknowledging investigative errors in a high-profile disappearance, fielding internal criticism from his own deputies' organization, and now named as a defendant in a federal lawsuit filed by an inmate convicted of shoplifting.

The Bigger Picture

None of this happens in a vacuum. County sheriffs across the country are under increasing strain, managing overcrowded jails, staffing shortages, and a legal environment that treats every grievance as a potential payday. Inmates filing federal civil rights suits is not new. Many are dismissed. Some are not. The merits of Marx's case will be determined by the court.

But the pattern matters more than the individual case. When a sheriff's department can't maintain basic operational discipline, whether that means quarantine protocols in a jail or crime-scene preservation in a kidnapping investigation, it invites exactly this kind of cascading accountability crisis. Every misstep becomes ammunition.

Nanos has not responded publicly to the lawsuit. His department's silence is doing the talking for now.

For Pima County residents, the question is simple: Is the sheriff's department running the jail, or is the jail running the sheriff's department?