Inquiry into sexual talk in county office intensifies; Arkansas prosecutor begins civil investigation

CONWAY -- Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland said Thursday that he has begun a civil investigation of allegations of sexual harassment against the director of the Faulkner County Office of Emergency Management.

After some heated and lengthy debate, the county's Quorum Court voted 9-2 Thursday night to formalize an earlier request that Hiland oversee a civil investigation into allegations against director Shelia Bellott by four of the office's employees. She's also accused of other problems, including recurring tardiness and absenteeism.

Justices of the Peace Dan Thessing and John Pickett voted no on the ordinance proposed by Steve Goode and intended to add legal weight to a similar but nonbinding resolution passed Tuesday night. Leroy Hendricks was absent because of illness.

Contacted Thursday, Bellott said, "I don't wish to make a statement at this time."

Employees Mary Johnson and Julie Woodward also have filed complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Eric Duvall and Tyler Lachowsky are the other employees who filed complaints with the county.

"I've conducted four interviews with the complainants, and the investigation is ongoing," Hiland said. He said he would turn his findings over to the Quorum Court when they are complete.

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The county's civil attorney, David Hogue, who has now recused from the investigation, said Wednesday that he had earlier investigated the allegations and had turned his findings over to County Judge Jim Baker, who also had gathered some information.

"The facts are for the most part undisputed," Hogue said. "If [Bellott] was actually sexually harassing someone in a more aggressive way, she probably would have been fired on the spot." But what she was doing was "talking about inappropriate stuff at work," he said.

Hogue said he did not make a written recommendation but told Baker that he "thought there should be substantial consequences because we need to let the taxpayers and the other employees know that this kind of stuff is not going to be tolerated."

"I didn't define the consequences," Hogue said. Thursday night, though, Hogue said he recommended that Baker fire Bellott but that Baker opted against termination.

The Quorum Court can defund Bellott's position if it chooses but cannot fire her. Only Baker can do that.

Hogue said Wednesday that the four employees had wanted Bellott put on administrative leave with pay during the investigation. Instead, Baker decided she should work from home.

In mid-June, after Hogue's investigation, Baker assigned Bellott to an office in the county's old courthouse on Locust Avenue while the office staff still works in a facility on Acklin Gap Road, more than 5 miles away. Further, Bellott is allowed to communicate by phone with only one employee, Lachowsky, who in turn relays her information to the other workers. Bellott and the employees are not to discuss sex while at work, Hogue said.

Baker did not return a phone message seeking comment. But Hogue said Baker views the measures taken "as substantial consequences."

Hogue said Bellott contends that the complaining employees also had talked about inappropriate things at work.

Addressing the Quorum Court, Hiland said that, on the basis of his initial interviews, there are "four very scared, very upset employees." He added, "There is a major problem if [their allegations] are true."

Justice of the Peace Johnny Brady called the four workers "belligerent" at one point, prompting fellow Quorum Court member Goode to say they were "victims" who need the support of the justices of the peace. Brady later told a reporter he withdrew the "belligerent" comment.

Justice of the Peace Thessing compared the case to the investigations of whether President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign colluded with the Russians. They [investigators] "just won't let it go," Thessing said.

Copies of the complaints, obtained by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, reflect that the employees were upset because they said Bellott talks about her sexual life in sometimes graphic terms during work.

Woodward wrote, "There is a serious issue within this department with an out-of-control leader and her protector." The latter was a reference to Tom Anderson, the county administrator.

Woodward said Bellott has told her that "she would not promote me because she needed a man in the position."

Woodward also said Bellott told her and Johnson about a date the previous night and said she was going to have sex with the man that night. " I asked her to stop talking to me about that as it was extremely distasteful and uncomfortable to me. She walked around the office smelling her fingers because they smelled of her date. I asked her to stop that too and she laughed at me."

Lachowsky, echoing others' complaints, wrote, "Shelia has had rampant tardiness [and] absenteeism." He said she has falsified timecards and "has spent at times 4-6 hours on the phone with one of her husbands or boyfriends during work hours."

Duvall said there are "long periods of [the] day" where Bellott is inaccessible.

Johnson said employees have been "subjected to sex talk about previous husbands, listening to kisses in [the] office." She also said Bellott misuses a county phone "for excessive personal use -- staying on [the] phone for hours with husband or boyfriend during office hours."

Johnson said workers have been "nervous about [an apparently former] husband ... coming up here and causing a scene. We kept doors locked due to the nature" of his visits.

Metro on 07/21/2017

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