LaDucer Suit: Accusers Lying for Financial Gain

Former Assistant Sheriff Dennis LaDucer filed a lawsuit Thursday in Orange County Superior Court against three women who have accused him of sexual misconduct.

The suit, a response to sexual harassment lawsuits filed by the women in June and July, accuses them of lying to sheriff’s investigators to get him fired and of suing LaDucer, 52, for “monetary gain.”

Sheriff’s Lt. Wendy Costello, office employee Mary Ann Hoyt and Deputy Florence J. Henson have said they were badgered, groped and propositioned by LaDucer for years, while under his supervision at the department. An internal investigation into their claims prompted Sheriff Brad Gates to fire LaDucer two weeks ago.

But LaDucer’s attorney, Bruce D. Praet of Santa Ana, said the women wrongly told investigators that the alleged misconduct can be supported by several third-party witnesses.

“These so-called witnesses did not, in fact, witness anything the women claim they did,” Praet said. “They were simply told by the women, who have now sued my client, that the conduct occurred.”

Patrick Thistle, the Los Angeles attorney representing Costello, Henson and Hoyt, said the countersuit was “interesting, but completely ridiculous.”

“There is a well-documented pattern of conduct that Dennis LaDucer has demonstrated for years, and we can certainly support those claims,” Thistle said. “This behavior has gone unchallenged for a very long time.”