Fired Assistant Sheriff Slapped With Sex Bias Suit
Dennis LaDucer, the former assistant Orange County sheriff accused of sexual harassment by several women, has been named in a lawsuit alleging sex discrimination.
In a lawsuit filed this week in Orange County Superior Court, the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing demanded that the Sheriff’s Department turn over certain documents to help the agency in its investigation of a sex discrimination claim against LaDucer by Linda Jean Bertagna, who the lawsuit says was once employed by the department.
The lawsuit alleges that the documents were subpoenaed but have not been turned over. It offers no details of the sex discrimination claim.
LaDucer, 53, was dismissed by then-Sheriff Brad Gates in 1997 after four women filed sexual harassment lawsuits against him and the department. A fifth woman filed a lawsuit last year.
The county has agreed to pay $325,000 to settle one of the suits.
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