4 Women Claim Sex Harassment in Newport PD

Four current and former female Newport Beach Police Department employees will file a lawsuit today contending that they were sexually harassed by a police captain and that the police chief “condoned” the behavior, their attorney said Wednesday.

In a lawsuit to be filed in Orange County Superior Court, the women will charge that Capt. Anthony Villa touched breasts and made sexual overtures and suggestive remarks, including detailed descriptions of a pornographic movie, and that Police Chief Arb Campbell knew of the harassment and did nothing to stop it.

They will contend that they were told to socialize with male officers while off duty, especially with commanding officers, and to wear short skirts and clothing “desirable” to the men, the lawsuit states.

Campbell and Villa could not be reached directly, but their lawyer said they “unequivocally deny the allegations.”

“In a generic sense, because I haven’t really seen these allegations, they have made an unequivocal denial of any allegations of individualized or a prevailing environment of sexual harassment or retaliation within the Newport Beach Police Department,” said Bruce Praet, the city-hired attorney who will represent the chief and captain in the matter.

“Although we’re not commenting on any individual, certainly there is the appearance of disgruntled employees . . . who may be subject to disciplinary matters (who) may be creating diversionary tactics,” Praet said.

City Manager Kevin J. Murphy also denied the allegations, and noted that the city has hired a Los Angles law firm to investigate the women’s complaints.

Only one of the women in the suit, communications supervisor Mary Jane Ruetz, could be reached Wednesday and she said in a brief interview: “My attorney is filing this lawsuit . . . and it’s really difficult to do, because I’m terrified. But I’ve been sexually harassed and discriminated against because I’m a woman, and I had no other choice,” she said.

“This Police Department is a hotbed of sexually offensive conduct at the top levels of the command structure,” reads the second paragraph of the pending lawsuit, a copy of which was given to The Times.

“Not only are females treated differently from male employees in many important respects, but some female employees who are intimately involved with high-ranking officers receive favored treatment in contrast to other female employees who refuse to ‘go along to get along.’ Several female employees have left the Newport Beach Police Department as a direct result of sexual harassment, sexual discrimination and the extraordinarily sexually hostile and offensive environment,” the complaint reads.

“This is not exactly the year of the woman at the Newport Beach Police Department,” said Steven R. Pingel, a Seal Beach attorney representing the women. “This was a case where I was ultimately really proud of these four women to have the guts to come forward and start telling their tale.”

The women--Ruetz, 43, records supervisor Margaret McInnis, 39, and Police Officers Rochell Maier, 31, and Cheryl Vlacilek, 28--are seeking damages in excess of $200,000 each on charges of discrimination in employment based on sex.

Ruetz and Vlacilek say they were fired after formally complaining of harassment and discrimination to superiors. But the city’s Civil Service Commission reinstated both. Maier was fired, the lawsuit states, on the same grounds and will seek to regain her job at an Oct. 5 hearing before the commission.

City Manager Murphy expressed disappointment that the lawsuit would be hitting the newspaper and courthouse before the city’s contracted review by the Los Angeles law firm of Burke, Williams & Sorensen, which is to begin next week.

“Clearly it is the city’s policy to not tolerate these kinds of activities, and it was spelled out in a City Council resolution in 1987,” said Murphy, who has been with the city five months.

“I’m not going to go into the details and try the case in the press; I don’t think it’s in the city’s financial interest and the city’s long-term interest to do that. . . . But if they really wanted to resolve it they would have permitted us time to review the case. . . . I don’t believe the allegations will be sustained, I don’t believe that department is a hostile working environment, from what I know at this time.”

Through their legal representatives, the four women allege that the sexual harassment started immediately after they began working for the 248-employee Police Department and continued even after they were fired and then, in two cases, reinstated. There are 76 women employees in the department, seven of them sworn officers.

“We have told the Police Department we have between five and 15 other females--ex- or current employees of the department--who have been the victims of sexual harassment or sexual discrimination and are fearful of coming forward because of the fear of retaliation,” said John W. Lewis, partner with Bino Hernandez in Law Enforcement Representation Associates, which specializes in assisting officers and which brought the case to the women’s attorney.

“And that’s true even of former employees. You’ve got to understand, these guys have a hammer over their heads in terms of them getting jobs elsewhere in the future,” Hernandez said.

The lawsuit is based on charges that the alleged harassment violated the California Fair Employment and Housing Act and the discrimination violated the state Constitution’s prohibition of discrimination based on sex. Complaints were filed with the state on Sept. 15 and will be forwarded to the federal agency which handles such claims.

Ruetz has worked for the department the longest, hiring on as records supervisor in December, 1988. She is the single mother of one child. Her cause of action comes first and reflects many of the other women’s complaints.

“From the first day of employment through the present time,” the lawsuit alleges, Ruetz “has been subjected to sexual harassment by Capt. Villa. The harassment was both physical and verbal and was part of a hostile, threatening and offensive work environment. Defendant Campbell was aware of Villa’s conduct and condoned it.”

On a “virtually continuous basis,” the pending lawsuit continues, Villa “grabbed and touched Ruetz against her wishes. He touched her breasts and rubbed her knees. On numerous occasions he placed himself in Ms. Ruetz’s path as she walked near him in order to grab or caress her.”

The pending litigation alleges that Ruetz complained to her supervisor about Villa’s alleged sexual harassment in September, 1991. From those discussions she concluded that “it would be career suicide to formally complain about Capt. Villa because of the close personal relationship between Villa and Chief Campbell,” the lawsuit reads.

A month later she was investigated on “the pretext of making inappropriate remarks to a co-worker.” The following month she was terminated.

In March, 1992, the Newport Beach Board of Civil Service Commissioners found she had been wrongfully fired--although there were no public allegations of sexual harassment--and reinstated Ruetz. On her first day back at work, she alleges in the pending lawsuit, Villa grabbed her by both arms as she tried pulling away.

On Aug. 17, 1992, Campbell ordered her to disclose any sexual harassment allegations she might have. Nine days later Ruetz was ordered to see a city-appointed doctor, who put her on disability leave--where she remains--because of what her attorney says was stress from enduring the alleged sexual harassment.

Maier, an Army Reserve captain and commander of her helicopter company, joined the Police Department as an officer May 25, 1990.

She claims in the lawsuit to have been sexually harassed since that time and told by her supervisors to socialize with male co-workers and superiors, who told her to “refrain from wearing jeans and T-shirts when she was out of uniform, but instead to wear short skirts to show off her legs.” She also says she was told not to have her boyfriend drop her off or pick her up from work.

Maier “was continually subjected to grabbing and touching by Villa. . . . Villa touched her leg in a sexually suggestive manner and embraced her so tight that her breasts were squeezed against his chest,” the lawsuit alleges.

Maier also contends that she has been discriminated against by supervisors who hassled her for taking time off for Reserve duty, while a male co-worker and Reserve major had no such trouble.

When she asked for a family emergency leave of absence in February, 1991, to attend to her dying father in Wisconsin, she claims in the lawsuit, Villa first denied her request. He later told her she would have to quit but could have her job back upon return.

She was reinstated.

After she returned from leave, the document reads, “Villa approached plaintiff in the department gym and made sexual advances toward her. Plaintiff told Villa that she remained in the relationship with her boyfriend and was not interested.”

Following her rejection of Villa’s alleged advances, the lawsuit says, Maier’s probation was extended for the time she was gone--unlike a male co-worker’s following his similar leave. As the harassment continued, Maier claimed, she was fired nine days before her probation ended “as a result of her not subjecting herself to sexual involvement with Capt. Villa,” the lawsuit alleges.

She will try to get her job back next month.

Vlacilek was hired as a Newport Beach police officer in January, 1989, and “from that time on” has been subjected to unwanted sexual advances and innuendo by Villa, the lawsuit reads.

She says she was told to socialize after hours with male co-workers and “higher-ranking officers in particular.”

By January, 1991, she contends, she was no longer able to endure her working conditions and complained of the alleged sexual harassment to a police lieutenant. The following month, “as a result of vocalizing her objections,” she was terminated, the lawsuit says.

Three months later, after a Civil Service board hearing, she was reinstated. No sexual harassment allegations were made. At the hearing, the lawsuit contends, a lieutenant “was found to have perjured himself in giving evidence against her.” The officer remains employed at the department.

The sexual harassment increased after Vlacilek returned to her job, the lawsuit states, but she was afraid of being fired again and so kept quiet for a time, until she complained again to a supervisor. She claims an “unfair” job performance evaluation commenced. When she protested a third time, she was ordered by Campbell to be “interrogated” about her allegations or be fired, the lawsuit states.

During that meeting, Vlacilek disclosed that she and other female co-workers had been sexually harassed by supervisors including Villa and Campbell. She was brought up on unnamed administrative charges right after that, the lawsuit alleges.

McInnis was hired as a communications supervisor on May 8, 1989. She is the single mother of three children.

She claims in the lawsuit to have been continually sexually harassed by Villa, told to socialize with men she worked for and “dress in a manner desired by male employees in department management.”

The lawsuit alleges that she was “expected to frequent bars that male employees frequented, including Capt. Villa and Chief Campbell.”