Inmate blames DuPage guards for lost dentures

A state prison inmate filed a lawsuit this week in federal court claiming DuPage County jail guards are to blame for the loss of his dentures, which went missing two years ago.

John Francis Woods, 49, claims in the lawsuit that in May of 2009, his “10-unit” bridge of teeth went missing after a shake down of his cell.

The lawsuit states that Woods left the dentures in a Styrofoam cup on top of a soap dispenser in his cell, and after waiting in a hallway during a shakedown on the morning of May 10, 2009, the cup was on the floor and the dentures were nowhere to be found.

The suit includes a lost property form that Woods filed and a response from a jail official that says one deputy who searched the cell saw the cup on the dispenser with the dentures inside and left it there during the search. Other deputies conducting the search denied seeing the cup or dentures.

Woods claims he searched the cell for the dentures after the shake down, but could only find the cup, which was on the floor, according to the suit.

He is seeking to have the bridge replaced, which he claims cost $9,000 in 1985, as well a “a reasonable amount of money for my pain and suffering.”

Woods is currently serving a 10-year sentence for having at least six DUI convictions at the Illinois River Correctional Center in Canton.

The suit names DuPage Sheriff John Zaruba and nine other jail officials and deputies as defendants.

A DuPage County state’s attorney’s office spokesman said the office had not seen a copy of the lawsuit as of Wednesday night, and had no immediate comment.