Costa Mesa Attorneys Deny Female Officers Harassed

COSTA MESA — Attorneys for Costa Mesa on Wednesday denied allegations raised in a sexual-harassment lawsuit by three former police officers, calling them “outlandish and without merit.”

City Atty. Thomas Kathe said that if such activities had gone on, “from what I know of Chief [David L.] Snowden, he would have acted on it responsibly.”

Nancy McAllister, June Ann Romine and Kathy Sothard filed the suit Tuesday alleging they were subjected to humiliation, retaliation, lewd comments, fondling and other improper acts while they worked for the department. The suit even mentioned an incident in which a fourth female officer was allegedly urinated on by a male officer.

The suit against the city and Snowden seeks unspecified damages and attorneys’ fees.

“The city of Costa Mesa has a history of not wanting women in the Police Department,” said John W. Lewis, an attorney representing the three women. “The Costa Mesa Police Department is still living in 1950. I don’t know what makes them think they can get away with it.”

All three women filed complaints this year with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and Lewis said the city took no action to rectify the problems revealed in those complaints. An attorney representing the city, Jim Murphy, countered that after hearing of the allegations the city started its own investigations, two of which are still underway. The third investigation, of McAllister’s case, upheld her firing, Murphy said. She is now appealing the ruling, he said.

Lewis said McAllister and Romine were fired because they complained about sexual harassment. They were still on their 12-month probations, so the department didn’t have to state a reason for the firing.

Murphy said the women were fired simply because they preformed poorly.

Sothard left the department this year on a medical retirement.

The city has yet to receive its copy of the suit, Kathe said, but witness depositions will begin soon after that.

The legal preliminaries and any trial could push a resolution of the case to next November, Lewis said.

“I am looking forward to presenting this case to a jury,” he added.