Some sexual harassment gets you a mug shot in the NJ and some never gets mentioned.
This is from El Som, way back back in June.
If you have a subscription, read away.
We’ll start with some fair use:
A lawsuit filed by a female former Delaware State Police trooper accuses police officials of ignoring years of sex discrimination and harassment, implicates current state Rep. Stephen Smyk as one her harassers and claims overtime fraud occurs in the police unit that protects the governor.
The lawsuit was filed last week in federal court by former Sgt. Nicole Oldham, who worked as a state trooper for more than 15 years. The suit states she was denied benefits and work available to her male counterparts and that she was the subject of sex-based smear campaigns by male officers who went undisciplined by leadership.
Oldham began her career with Delaware State Police in 2002, becoming a barrier-breaking female in the department where male officers currently outnumber women almost seven to one, the lawsuit states. She was voted class president of her police academy, began ranking up faster than her academy counterparts and was a nominee for trooper of the year by 2004.
One of the earliest examples listed in the lawsuit involves Smyk, who had a decades-long career with Delaware State Police, is the past president of the influential Delaware State Troopers Association and is currently representing the Milton area in the Delaware House of Representatives. Reached by text message, Smyk declined to comment saying he had not read the complaint.
The lawsuit states that “early” in Oldham’s career,” Smyk, then a state trooper, circulated an email falsely stating that she conducted a traffic stop with her child in her car and the car was stolen.” In the email, Smyk wrote that this “FEMALE trooper” should not be on the job and indicated he was reporting this to help out his “brothers” in state police, the lawsuit states.
That’s about as much as I can safely excerpt, but there’s a whole lot more in the article. By all accounts, Oldham is an exemplary officer, who rose through the ranks despite ongoing harassment. I mean intolerable harassment.
The Speaker Pete cameo?:
In 2013, she was assigned to the State Police’s Executive Protection Unit, which is charged with protecting the governor, lieutenant governor and their families. She was the first woman named by merit to lead the unit, the lawsuit states.
When she was promoted to the division, male troopers placed a photograph and a message in her mailbox claiming she earned the prestigious position by performing oral sex on Delaware House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach, who is also retired from state police.
The lawsuit claims that officers on the unit are typically afforded a free housing benefit, but when she asked for that benefit, a lieutenant told another male sergeant, “she can suck my d*ck.”
If even a scintilla of her allegations are true, this represents an incredibly-toxic culture at work. It would prove that State police, who are about to once again get their pensions padded, are a law unto themselves.
Forget about the civil suit, although I can’t imagine anybody subjecting themselves to yet more harassment for coming forward with false charges. This calls for a full-blown criminal investigation by anybody but the cops themselves. BTW, will any of the cop fellators on the House Ethics Committee do anything about this? Oh, and Speaker Pete? You might want to strip Smyk of his committee posts until this is resolved. Especially the Judicary Committee. If it’s the proper punishment for Darius Brown, then it certainly is for Smyk. Also from the Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee. And the Corrections Committee. Until these allegations are resolved, he has no business near any committee dealing with law enforcement.
One last thing–there had better be no cover-up of what appears to have been a years’-long cover-up of this disgraceful behavior.
Just look at the guy. You know he is guilty as fuck.