Villa Attorney Answers Newport Charges

An attorney for Police Capt. Anthony Villa, whom the city moved to fire in December after 10 female employees filed a sexual-harassment lawsuit against him, on Tuesday responded to the city’s charges, rebutting point by point the basis for Villa’s termination.

“Much of what he has been accused of does not rise to the level of anything that should be disciplined; much of what he has been accused of has been taken out of context,” said Jeff Epstein, who gave City Manager Kevin J. Murphy a 22-page, single-spaced response to the firing notice about noon.

“The city was willing to sacrifice him,” Epstein said. “They want to get rid of him, get it out of the way.”

The city has never publicly discussed why it has moved to fire Villa, and Murphy refused Tuesday to comment on the city’s reasons for disciplining Villa or on Epstein’s response to the charges. He cited state laws requiring that personnel matters be kept secret.

Murphy said he will review the response before making a final decision about whether to fire Villa, who has been on leave since October but remains on the city payroll.

If the city does fire Villa--a 26-year veteran of the Newport Beach force--he will appeal the decision to the Civil Service Commission.

Though the move to fire Villa followed on the heels of a three-month investigation into the sexual-harassment charges, sexual harassment is only one of about half a dozen charges included in the city’s termination notice, Epstein said.

According to Epstein, Villa also is accused of using poor disciplinary tactics, giving inconsistent orders, failing to show proper respect for individual employees, deploying employees inappropriately, and engaging in conduct unbecoming an officer. Many of the incidents mentioned in the city’s 23-page notice date back more than five years--one as far back as 1981, he said.

“If you put any person in any job under a microscope, take things out of context . . . and go back through a 10- or 12-year period, you would terminate 85% of the people who are out there working,” Epstein said. “Nobody could stand up to that kind of scrutiny. It’s absolutely unfair for anybody to be put in that position.”