Colleagues Claim Branch Played Computer Games : Investigation: Scope of inquiry into sexual harassment allegations widens to include input from 30 in recorder’s office. Timetable will be pushed back.

Investigators exploring allegations of sexual harassment and employee abuse against Orange County Recorder Lee A. Branch have received information that he spent extended periods of time playing computer games at work, sources close to the investigation confirm.

Employees questioned by county affirmative action investigators, and those close to the investigation, said the games were played on personal office computers which have programs such as solitaire.

Meanwhile, officials said the investigation into this and the earlier allegations would be expanded to include questioning of about 30 employees, about a third of Branch’s staff. Last week, about 15 employees had been called to the affirmative action office or had sought to make statements to investigators.

“This is going to push our timetable back,” said county Personnel Director Russ Patton. “We would like to bring this to a close, but we also feel obligated to hear all the concerns of those who have come forward.”

Patton said he did not know how long the investigation would be delayed. It was hoped that the matter could be completed by this week, but officials now say a report to the Board of Supervisors may not be completed until the end of the month.

Branch has been on paid leave since the end of last month pending the outcome of the investigation. Documents manager Nancy L. Smith, who is a subject of the same investigation, is on indefinite leave from her duties with pay.

Branch and Smith, whose personal relationship has spurred separate employee complaints of favoritism within the office, have been accused of separate incidents of physical abuse of employees, according to those familiar with the investigation. Both have flatly denied the accusations.

Branch could not be reached Monday for comment about computer games. In past interviews he has maintained that the allegations are politically motivated.

Assistant Recorder Ella M. Murphy, while declining comment on details of the investigation, said the recorder’s office is equipped with at least three personal computers that could be programmed to play computer games.

Murphy, now responsible for daily office operations in Branch’s absence, said the computers were located in the department’s accounting and staff analyst offices and in Branch’s office.

For some time, Murphy said, some employees in the office used the computer game function during lunch and other breaks. In some cases, use of the computer for games was encouraged so that employees could become familiar with equipment and improve their manual dexterity. Murphy said that privilege no longer exists, but it was not immediately known when it was discontinued or why.

Branch’s alleged penchant for computer games was blamed by some in the office for contributing to the recorder’s perceived detachment from daily operations.

Some officials familiar with the investigation have said that managers in the office had complained that it had been more than a year since Branch communicated with them.

“That’s one example of what was turned over,” one official said, referring to the allegations about computer games. “It’s not the only example.”

Until Branch’s scheduled return on Nov. 29, county officials have asked Robert A. Griffith, deputy director of the county Social Services Agency and former chief of employee relations for the county, to oversee operations of the recorder’s office.