FBI Settles Suit for Sex Harassment : Civil rights: Two women agents to receive nearly $350,000 in unusually swift resolution. Personal role by agency director is credited.

In an unusually swift resolution to a civil rights lawsuit, the FBI has agreed to pay nearly $350,000 to two women agents who alleged that they were fondled and taunted by their Orange County supervisor, a lawyer for the women said Monday.

Under the settlement agreement, the bureau will pay $192,500 to Agent Heather Power-Anderson and $155,000 to her colleague, Boni Carr-Alduenda, in exchange for their dropping the lawsuit, Irvine lawyer Christopher B. Mears said.

As a condition of the settlement, FBI Director Louis J. Freeh will also issue a public statement within the next few weeks acknowledging the agreement and “reiterating the FBI’s commitment to the maintenance of a workplace free from all forms of discrimination and retaliation.”

Officials at FBI headquarters and the Justice Department said they would have no comment Monday night.

In contrast to the handling of similar complaints in the past, which took months--even years--to resolve, the settlement comes two months after the women sued the Justice Department alleging that they were repeatedly harassed by Supervising Agent John Carpenter, a 20-year-veteran who worked in the agency’s Santa Ana office. Carpenter has denied the allegations.

The FBI initiated proceedings to terminate Carpenter six weeks ago and transferred him to the FBI’s Long Beach office.

Mears attributed the speedy resolution to the FBI director’s personal involvement in securing a negotiated resolution of the women’s complaints.

“While not carrying an admission of fault, the agreement clearly reflects the seriousness with which the FBI took these claims,” Mears said.

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

Power-Anderson, of Mission Viejo, has been a special agent since 1984. Carr-Alduenda, a resident of Laguna Niguel, has served since 1988.

Power-Anderson was assigned to Carpenter’s squad, and said the supervisor massaged her shoulders. In one incident, she said he 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.

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

Times staff writer Ronald Ostrow in Washington contributed to this story.