PacifiCorp, which operates the Dave Johnston Power Plant in Glenrock, may have ignored its own concerns about electrical utilities being potential terrorist targets when it hired a subcontractor that employed an illegal alien, according to a federal civil lawsuit.

That illegal alien, Arturo Alejandro Loya Ramos, on April 4 raped a female guard at the plant.

She is suing him, his employer Safway Supply Inc., and PacifiCorp for economic, pain and suffering, and punitive damages, according to the complaint filed by her attorney Todd Hambrick in U.S. District Court last month.

Hambrick declined to comment on the case.

The Star-Tribune does not name victims of sexual assault.

Safway, Loya Ramos' employer, and PacifiCorp, doing business in Wyoming as Rocky Mountain Power, have denied responsibility for Loya Ramos' actions, according to their responses filed in federal court.

The woman, an employee of Peak Guard Services, was working April 4 when Loya Ramos waited until he was alone with her in an elevator, used the stop button and assaulted her, according to the complaint.

After the attack, she told other guards and police arrested him.

On Wednesday, Loya Ramos was sentenced to four years to eight years imprisonment in the Wyoming State Penitentiary on a count of second degree sexual assault, Deputy Converse County Attorney John Robinson said Thursday.

The female guard is suing Loya Ramos for the injuries she suffered plus punitive damages to set an example to other potential rapists, according to the complaint.

But Safway Supply, which provides scaffolding to the power plant, and PacifiCorp are liable as well for their recklessness and negligence, according to the complaint.

"Safway Supply, Inc. regularly and habitually hired illegal aliens as employees, knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that they were illegal aliens, and knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that these illegal aliens were fugitives, and in some cases dangerous," according to the complaint.

However, the complaint cited no proof for this assertion.

Likewise, PacifiCorp should have known Safway Supply hired illegal aliens, according to the complaint.

PacifiCorp states in its annual 10-K report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that electric utilities are potential targets of terrorist organizations, according to the complaint. "Defendant PacifiCorp issued Defendant Loya Ramos, a/k/a Jaime Rivera, a security card that gave him free access into the power plant, and which allowed him to freely wander the premises, despite the fact that they knew, or should have known, that he was an illegal alien and should have been excluded from this sensitive site."

However, PacifiCorp responded it did not know about Safway's hiring practices, and it did not know of Loya Ramos' illegal status until shortly after the sexual assault, according to its answer filed by its attorney Stuart Day.

While PacifiCorp admitted Dave Johnston Power Plant is a potential terrorist target, it denied the rest of the woman's allegations.

Day could not be reached for comment.

Safway responded it did not knowingly employ a person named Arturo Alejandro Loya Ramos, but it did hire a person who identified himself as Jaime Rivera, according to its answer filed by Safway attorney Roger Shumate.

The company also denied it was legally responsible for Loya Ramos' actions or the damages allegedly sustained by the female guard, according to Shumate's answer.

Safway complied with all laws regarding the application and hiring of Loya Ramos, who they knew as Rivera. He apparently bought false documents to obtain employment, according to the answer.

The case has been assigned to Chief U.S. District Court Judge William Downes.

Reach Tom Morton at (307) 266-0592, or at Tom.Morton@trib.com.