Harassment Suit Names 3rd Police Officer

A year after a group of women sued Newport Beach, former Police Chief Arb Campbell and former Capt. Anthony Villa for alleged sexual harassment, a third police supervisor has been named as a defendant in the case.

Trent Harris, a 15-year veteran of the Police Department whom Campbell promoted to sergeant when he became chief in 1986, is accused of improper conduct as a supervisor by the 10 current and former female police employees who filed suit.

Bino Hernandez, an investigator who helped the women bring the lawsuit, alleged Harris “abused his authority,” made sexually suggestive remarks, discriminated against women and pressured female employees to date senior officers.

Cheryl Vlacilek, a former officer who is one of the plaintiffs, added: “He abused his authority to promulgate, basically the same thing that Capt. Villa and Chief Campbell did.”

Harris, 36, who was in the patrol division during the time of the alleged harassment but now works as a detective, could not be reached for comment Friday.

But City Manager Kevin J. Murphy said that in several interviews with city-hired investigators and attorneys, Harris denied the allegations against him.

“This is a non-issue,” Murphy said. “It’s part of the whole strategy of a lawsuit.”

Campbell and Villa were fired after the allegations surfaced, but in June the two men were reinstated and then immediately retired. Of the 10 plaintiffs, two remain at work, two others have been fired, and six are on medical or stress-related leaves.

The pending lawsuit calls the upper ranks of the 250-member Police Department “a hotbed of sexually offensive conduct,” and accuses Campbell and Villa of raping a dispatcher after a police party in 1981. They have denied all allegations.

In court papers filed Thursday, Harris was named as one of 100 “John Does” listed as potential defendants in the original lawsuits.