A Kauai police officer who received $100,000 from the county last year to settle sexual harassment and retaliation claims wasn’t the only person to report the matter, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court on Monday.
Assistant Chief Mark N. Begley is suing Kauai County, the Kauai Police Department, Police Chief Darryl Perry and two other high-ranking officers because he contends he was retaliated against for reporting the allegations to Perry.
Begley maintains that he told Perry that Assistant Chief Roy Asher had made an inappropriate gesture and comment to Sgt. Darla Abbatiello, according to the lawsuit. He says he later told Perry that the officer reported to him that Asher created a hostile work environment and discriminated against her because she had filed a previous complaint against the department.
Begley says Perry ignored his recommendations to investigate the allegations against Asher and that Asher and Perry retaliated against him for reporting the officer’s claims.
The county agreed to pay Abbatiello $100,000 last July as part of a conciliation agreement to settle a sexual harassment and retaliation case brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Abbatiello said in her EEOC complaint that another officer, not named in Begley’s lawsuit, had sexually harassed her for years.
The county had previously paid $980,000 to settle a federal whistle-blower lawsuit Abbatiello filed against the county, KPD, a previous police chief and four other officers.
Begley says after he reported the discrimination and retaliation allegations against Asher to Perry, Asher circulated false and disparaging statements about him, which Perry later acknowledged in an email to KPD staff were false. He said Perry initiated an investigation into Abbatiello’s claims only after Perry was unsuccessful in discouraging her from filing a formal complaint.
From then on, Begley says, Perry excluded him from meetings, stopped appointing him as acting deputy chief and acting chief of police, and directed the department’s Criminal Investigation Unit to stop using Begley’s property to store its surveillance vehicle. He says Perry and Deputy Chief Michael Contrades also ordered members of KPD’s Criminal Intelligence, Vice and Internal Affairs units not to brief or update Begley on their cases and investigations.
Mayor Bernard Carvalho ordered Perry on paid leave after Abbatiello filed a complaint with the mayor’s office. Begley says that as the assistant chief of KPD’s Administrative and Technical Bureau, it was his responsibility to seize and secure Perry’s badge, police credentials, service weapon and work keys.
When Perry attempted to return to work against Carvalho’s orders, Begley refused to return his badge, credentials, gun and keys. Begley says Perry disparaged, demeaned and embarrassed him by telling news reporters that Begley refused his orders and later filed disciplinary charges against him. He said Perry also disclosed private medical information about him to others.
Perry did not respond to a request for comment about Begley’s lawsuit. County spokeswoman Sarah Blane said she cannot comment on pending litigation.
