A High Springs police detective has filed a federal discrimination complaint against the city, alleging retaliation and discrimination by Police Chief James Troiano.
Det. Deborah Holley filed the complaint on Feb. 17 through the Miami district office of the U.S. Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
In the complaint, Holley alleges she has been discriminated against based on her gender and that she has been retaliated against for filing a whistleblower complaint on Troiano last year. She alleges Troiano retaliated against her by pursuing “contrived allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate language,” according to the report.
City Manager James Drumm said the city is handling the federal complaint through a labor attorney. He said the basis of the EEOC complaint is unclear because it was a fellow employee, not Troiano, that initially made allegations of Holley’s sexual harassment.
“The fact [Troiano] investigated about something someone else complained about seems to be the complaint,” Drumm said Wednesday. “Whether someone filed a whistleblower complaint against the chief or not, he has a duty to accept complaints from other employees if they’re made.”
An internal investigation into Holley was launched in December after communications officer Lindsay Powell and administrative assistant Angela Stone reported two alleged instances of inappropriate comments and actions Holley made toward Officer Mike Coulon.
Troiano then hired Williston Police Lt. Clay Connolly to interview witnesses regarding the two allegations against Holley. Powell accused Holley of touching Coulon’s arms and making a sexually explicit comment during a conversation sometime in the summer. Stone also accused Holley of rubbing Coulon’s arm and making comments on a separate occasion, though she testified she could not remember the details of Holley’s alleged comment.
Through interviewing witnesses, Connolly did not sustain charges of sexual harassment by Holley but did sustain a violation of improper language for her alleged comment.
According to Connolly’s report, sexual harassment was not sustained because Coulon testified that both reported instances occurred but that he did not feel offended by them. Connolly also pointed to the time lapse of several months between when these events allegedly happened and when they were reported.
Connolly did sustain the improper language violation because while Holley denied making a explicit comment to Coulon, Powell and Coulon testified she did. Although Powell listed Officer Jerry Perry as a witness to the comment, Perry testified he did not remember any of the events.
“I consider Officer Coulon and Dispatcher Powell’s testimony to be more specific and compelling,” Connolly wrote in the report. “I did not believe Det. Holley was lying. I believe she made a singular, ill advised comment that was out of character for her and she assumed she didn’t make that statement. In this case, Coulon’s and Powell’s testimony rose to a preponderance of the evidence standard.”
On Feb. 10, Troiano agreed with Connolly’s findings of improper language and sustained a 40-hour unpaid suspension, which Holley begins Thursday.
Holley appealed the punishment in a grievance hearing Tuesday with City Manager James Drumm, who as of press time had not yet decided to support or reverse Holley’s punishment.
In the appeal process, Holley’s Police Benevolent Association representative Rick Nelson said there were procedural violations made during the investigation.
Nelson points to the issue of the time lapse in the reporting of the incidents. Powell and Stone said Holley’s comments and actions toward Coulon occurred over the summer but did not report them to their supervisor, Sgt. Martha Hines, until Nov. 16. Hines, however, did not report the charges to Troiano until Dec. 9.
Nelson also stated the complaints were never sworn under oath when reported to Troiano, a violation of a police department policy, he said.
Holley alleges the sexual harassment investigation was an act of retaliation because of two complaints she previously made to Drumm about Troiano.
She first complained to Drumm in April 2009 that Troiano yelled at her during a traffic homicide scene. Holley stated in reports that Troiano yelled at her when she objected to his instructions to remove a piece of evidence from the scene where she was working as a detective.
That complaint was investigated by a lieutenant from an outside agency, who cleared Troiano of the allegations of wrongdoing after interviewing witnesses.
Holley also complained to Drumm in June about a Web site link Troiano emailed to police department employees. The link was to a video of a high-speed chase, intended to be a platform for officers to comment about the department’s own pursuit policy.
The Web page with the link also contained advertisements with sexually explicit photos, which Holley described in a letter to Drumm as “harassing behavior on the part of Chief Troiano towards women.” Drumm then hired attorney Gwendolyn P. Adkins in July to determine if the link qualified as sexual harassment.
After interviewing three female police department employees and Troiano, Adkins determined Troiano intended to share a police video with his employees and did not violate city sexual harassment policies with the site’s advertisements. She did determine he had violated department directives by sending the link, and Drumm ordered Troiano write a letter of apology to the police department.
Regarding Holley’s federal complaint, an EEOC representative said on Wednesday an investigator had not yet been assigned to the complaint against the city. But city officials said they issued an initial response to the EEOC March 19, which is not yet public record.
Troiano commented on Holley’s EEOC complaint Wednesday saying, “We look forward to a complete and total vindication later through the legal process. I cannot say any more at this time because it is a pending case; one we cannot talk about.”