BUENA PARK : Female Aide Sues Police Department

A second female employee of the Buena Park Police Department has filed a sexual harassment suit against the department.

Victoria Chaney, an investigative aide who worked as a civilian employee for the past seven years, filed the lawsuit this month. Chaney, of Garden Grove, alleges that she was so upset by the harassment that she could no longer perform her job.

In the suit, Chaney claims that a statement she made in August during an internal investigation of another sexual harassment case was copied and circulated throughout the department.

“She was so upset she didn’t go to work. . . . It was very embarrassing for her,” said Carrie MacMillin, Chaney’s attorney.

Chaney was given until Oct. 15 to return to work, and when she didn’t, she was fired, MacMillin said.

The complaint names Police Chief Richard M. Tefank, Capt. Charles Self, Sgt. Jerry Smock and city psychologist Tom Abbott as defendants.

Tefank declined comment. “I am not at liberty to comment on any of her allegations,” he said. When asked if the suit warranted outside investigation, Tefank said, “In my opinion, it does not.”

Chaney also claims in the lawsuit that officers made comments to her about her sex life and that when she went to Abbott for help, he “stated obscenities to plaintiff, thereby causing plaintiff additional emotional distress.”

Mayor Donald L. Bone said the City Council has not yet discussed the matter. “Because we, as a group, haven’t been fully apprised, it is premature to give an answer,” Bone said. City Manager Kevin O’Rouke declined to comment on the lawsuit.

In a case filed earlier this year, former Officer Sandra Jean McClaren alleged that she was subjected to sexual harassment.

The suit, filed in January, claims that male officers frequently made sexual comments to McClaren that led to her quitting in October, 1989.

MacMillin, who is also representing McClaren, said the case is moving toward a trial.