FBI May Fire Agent Sued for Harassment : Law enforcement: The bureau is seeking to remove a supervisor in its Orange County white-collar crimes unit, sources say. A lawsuit by two female agents accuses him of fondling and taunting them.

The FBI has moved to fire the supervisor of a white-collar crimes unit in Orange County who is accused in a federal civil rights lawsuit of fondling and taunting two female agents, according to sources who are familiar with the investigation.

Agent John Carpenter, a 20-year bureau veteran, was asked to vacate his Santa Ana office last week after FBI officials in Washington determined there were grounds for dismissal, The Times has learned.

Carpenter declined to comment when contacted Monday and Wednesday at his Rancho Santa Margarita home. But two weeks ago, Carpenter said “I deny everything” in response to what is believed to be the first sexual harassment lawsuit filed by women still working as agents.

FBI officials in Santa Ana, Los Angeles and Washington also declined to comment, citing a bureau policy of not discussing pending administrative and personnel matters.

But sources told The Times that disciplinary action was taken against Carpenter after FBI officials in Washington intervened after the March 11 lawsuit by Agents Boni Carr Alduenda and Heather Power-Anderson.

Sources said FBI officials in Washington ordered the start of dismissal proceedings after a high-level team traveled to Santa Ana last week and interviewed several supervisors and agents about the women’s complaints.

Under FBI personnel procedures, Carpenter will be given time to respond to the allegations and final action will not be taken until his response is evaluated.

Power-Anderson, 38, and Carr Alduenda, 40, have alleged that Carpenter taunted them at work, grabbing them and making lewd remarks during several months in 1992.

Power-Anderson, who was assigned to Carpenter’s squad, said the supervisor massaged her shoulders and, in one incident, kissed her on the back of the neck while she was sitting at her desk. Another time, she alleged, Carpenter tore her dress when he forced his hand onto her upper thigh.

Carr Alduenda alleged that Carpenter constantly grabbed her and commented several times about the size of her breasts. In the lawsuit, she said that when she returned from maternity leave in September, 1992, Carpenter said to her: “Maternity has been good to you. Your breasts are really big. Are you breast-feeding? I wish I was your baby.”

The women also alleged that the resident agent in charge of the Santa Ana office, James Donckels, discouraged them from filing discrimination complaints with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, but advised them to put their complaints in writing so that he could forward them to the Office of Professional Responsibility, an internal FBI unit.

The women said in their lawsuit that they were harassed and intimidated by FBI officials after they complained about Carpenter’s behavior.

Power-Anderson has been a special agent since 1984; Carr Alduenda has served since 1988.

They are assigned to the bureau’s 65-agent Santa Ana field office, where Carpenter supervised a team of 12 FBI agents who specialize in investigating white-collar crimes.

Christopher B. Mears, an Irvine lawyer who is representing the women, said Wednesday that he was gratified to hear that the bureau was taking disciplinary action against Carpenter.

“It’s better late than never because we’ve been requesting that he be disciplined from Day 1,” Mears said. “These two women have been forced to share the same workplace with him for the last (18 months). It has served to rob them of their peace of mind.”

Mears said the women will proceed with their lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana.

Gary Morley, a spokesman for the FBI office in Santa Ana, said Wednesday that the bureau will issue no statement about the case. He proceeded to read the department’s policy, which states in part that “the FBI is deeply committed to ensuring that discrimination and sexual harassment are absent from the FBI workplace.”

Two weeks ago, FBI Director Louis J. Freeh announced tough new guidelines governing the conduct of FBI employees, emphasizing higher standards of ethical behavior and allowing inquiries into sexual activity, including extramarital affairs. The director emphasized that homosexual conduct is not misconduct per se.

In a directive to all FBI executives, Freeh said the guidelines are among policies he has sought to institute since becoming director six months ago.

“I have determined that we have been too tolerant of certain types of behavior,” Freeh said, adding that he wants to “draw a bright line which should serve to put all employees on notice of my expectations.”