Four employees of the San Bernardino County Public Defender’s Office filed a class-action lawsuit against the county and multiple county employees Nov. 5 alleging acts of sexual misconduct including rape, assault, false imprisonment and quid pro quo sexual relationship in the office.
The complaints center on the former Public Defender Gregory Christopher Gardner, who left his position last year, but also accuses a host of other employees in the public defender’s office and accuses the county of knowing but not responding to an improper sexual culture in the office.
Plaintiffs
The suit alleges Gardner attempted to exchange sex for job benefits, rescinded verbally granted promotions after refusal of sexual acts and stalked an employee, among other acts.
Public defender investigators Stacy Thacker and Michelle Vanderlinden, deputy public defender Laura Leticia Alvarez and office assistant Gricelda “Gracie” Arciniega, are the plaintiffs.
County response
“San Bernardino County has no higher priority than providing a safe, equitable and harassment-free working environment for all of our employees,” county Public Information Officer David Wert wrote in a written statement regarding the suit.
“The County takes allegations of harassment, sexual misconduct, and retaliation very seriously and immediately conducts full investigations into any and all reports of misconduct. The County has a strong zero-tolerance policy against workplace misconduct and retaliation and requires employees to read and sign the policy upon hiring and as part of all regular employment evaluations.”
Allegations
The suit alleges that when Thacker attempted to report Gardner’s behavior to his wife in May 2020, Gardner swerved Thacker’s lane on the freeway, causing her to fear for her safety. It further alleges he attempted to maintain a relationship with Thacker for at least four years, during which time he took her on a trip to Newport Beach which she believed was for her job, accelerated his car so she could not exit it, and slammed her arm into his car console to prevent her from leaving, drawing blood.
The suit also claims that Gardner used his power to prevent Newport Beach Police Department from investigating him after he hurt Thacker in his car. Thacker filed a police report December 2020, the suit claims.
Gardner screamed at Thacker repeatedly on the phone, attempted sexual relationships at his hotel rooms during seminars and selectively picked her to go on trips with him so he could have the opportunity to be with her, the suit alleges.
Arciniega was told to come to her supervising public defender Richard LaFianza, and after refusal received a lower evaluation and a denial of job reclassification which would have resulted in a pay raise, the suit alleges. LaFianza also routinely asked Arciniega to reach for folders in his office so he could look at her body, the suit alleges.
Deputy public defender Bruce MacMahon had a foot fetish, asked Alvarez if he could take a picture of her toes, asked Vanderlinden if he could have a pair of her shoes so he could eat out of them, and shipped dirty underwear to the public defender’s office, the suit alleges.
One of the plaintiffs was raped in the office by an individual other than Gardner, the suit says, without naming the specific plaintiff or assailant.
The suit also alleges supervisor Jeff Canty accessed pornographic sites during training, and used a county car to transport employees to a strip club during a work trip. Public defender supervisor Mark Shoup received oral copulation at his work, the suit alleges, and supervisor Jennifer Cannady used her position of power to force a young man to stay at her home in a sex-slave capacity.
Damages sought
The plaintiffs seek to win back their loss of past and future earnings, lost pension and insurance benefits, litigation costs, attorney fees, civil penalties, punitive damages, medical and psychological bills past and present on seven claims: a hostile work environment, quid pro quo harassment, discrimination, retaliation, failure to take corrective action, assault, false imprisonment and violation of the Tom Bane Civil Rights Act.
The suit claims Orange County is the proper jurisdiction because of the assault and false imprisonment claims against Gardner, because Thacker alleges he committed these crimes against her in his car in Newport Beach. The complaint claims the case would not receive fair treatment in the San Bernardino Superior Court because of an allegedly sexual relationship between an unnamed San Bernardino Superior Court judge and Gardner.
Orange County Superior Judge Fred Slaughter was assigned to the case.
Brad Gage of Goldberg & Gage is representing the plaintiffs.
Case no: 30-2021-01229991-CU-OE-CJC
