By CLAUDIA VAN NES
Courant Staff Writer
July 9 2003
OLD SAYBROOK -- Cynthia Huckel, one of four police officers laid off last month, has filed a sexual harassment complaint against the police department.
In a complaint filed last week with the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, Huckel says that despite repeated objections to pornographic magazines in the department, the magazines were never removed.
She also claims Police Chief Edmund Mosca made a suggestive remark to her two years ago. Huckel alleges that after a police commission meeting at which she got a raise, Mosca said "in a loud voice" to Deputy Chief Thomas O'Brien: "Huckel, where is she? Huckel, get in here [and] take your clothes off."
Huckel claims Mosca was unaware she was standing outside the door at the time, but that Patrolman Jay Rankin was a witness.
Mosca, O'Brien and Sgt. Robert Mulvihill are mentioned in the complaint for failing to act on the magazines.
"I think the thing is ridiculous. I absolutely deny it happened nor do I have a reputation for doing things like this," Mosca said Tuesday. There were many witnesses who do not back Huckel's claim, Mosca said.
"It's in the hands of counsel and I'm going to let him handle it," Mosca said.
The police commission last month laid off Huckel on advice from Mosca. First Selectman Mike Pace had urged the commission to replace four officers with dispatchers.
In her affidavit, Huckel says "my sex and opposition to discriminatory treatment were factors" in her being laid off. Three of the four most recently hired officers, including Huckel, were let go. The other newest hire, Ryan Walsh, could not be laid off because he was hired through a grant, Mosca said.
Huckel claims she ran across pornographic magazines in the department after being hired in February 1999. Despite complaints to Mosca and O'Brien, she says, the magazines kept turning up.
Huckel, Mulvihill and other officers in the local police union showed support at a police commission hearing during the spring for union president Chris DeMarco, who was accused of spending work time viewing pornographic sites on the Internet. DeMarco was suspended without pay for 45 days.
In her suit, Huckel also complains she has "been forced to leave an area [in police headquarters] where I have encountered fellow police officers viewing pornographic material on computers."
Huckel could not be reached for comment Tuesday. The CHRO has not set a hearing date.
Meanwhile, the International Brotherhood of Police Officers has filed for a temporary injunction to gain back the four positions eliminated. An earlier attempt at an injunction failed. A hearing has been set for July 21 in Superior Court in Middletown.
Copyright 2003, Hartford Courant