City Settles Ex-Police Cadet’s Harassment Suit for $125,000

The Pasadena City Council has agreed to pay $125,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former police cadet who said she was “repeatedly raped” by a superior while on the job and subjected to continuous intimidation, city officials announced Friday.

The council approved the settlement with the former cadet in closed session Monday, officials said.

In the lawsuit filed two years ago, the cadet, who was then 19, alleged that between August, 1991, and December, 1992, she was repeatedly raped by a police sergeant while he was on duty, in police cars and in the Police Department building.

“It was sex without consent,” said Steven A. Jamieson, the cadet’s attorney. “She felt he had power over her. She didn’t have a choice about going back because that was where she was going to work and he was her supervisor.”

The cadet, who left the department after filing the lawsuit, alleged that the sergeant made sexual innuendoes and told her she would lose her job if she did not submit to the advances, according to court papers.

Pasadena Police Lt. Marilyn Diaz said the sergeant is no longer with the department, but declined to comment further.

The victim also alleged in the lawsuit that then-Police Chief Jerry Oliver failed to “adequately investigate and / or discipline” the sergeant. Oliver left in May to become police chief of Richmond, Va.

Cadets are civilian employees between the ages of 16 and 22 who assist police officers and are usually hoping to take the test to become full-fledged officers.