LaDucer Sues Again Over Firing by Sheriff

Dennis LaDucer, former Orange County assistant sheriff, has filed a lawsuit alleging that he was unfairly fired amid accusations of workplace sexual harassment and that the Sheriff’s Department improperly handled a criminal probe of the allegations, court records show.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Orange County Superior Court, comes five months after LaDucer’s federal civil rights lawsuit was dismissed by Federal District Judge Richard A. Paez.

Both suits allege that Sheriff Brad Gates breached LaDucer’s rights to privacy and due process by publicly announcing the longtime official’s firing. Both suits also accuse Gates of sacrificing his close confidant with an eye toward reelection.

LaDucer, 52, was fired after an internal inquiry into sexual harassment claims by three female employees led investigators to a fourth woman, another department employee, who accused LaDucer of raping her at his home in June 1995.

A nine-month criminal investigation of that allegation led to no charges, with a prosecutor saying there was insufficient evidence and citing inconsistent accounts of the incident.

In the Superior Court suit filed Monday, LaDucer alleges that Gates and Undersheriff Raul Ramos inappropriately led the administrative review of the claims against him.