The scandal-plagued Louisville Metro Police Department has been hit with two sexual harassment reports in the past month. Claims of officers swinging and taking naked selfies are being thrown around the agency.
This week, police head Jackie Gwinn-Villaroel quit because of the ongoing chaos, which was made worse by the controversial bust of golf star Scottie Scheffler earlier this month.
She is the third top police officer in Louisville to quit or be fired since 2020, when officers fatally shot Breonna Taylor during a botched drug raid that caused a national media firestorm.
Sgt. Lauren Carby filed a lawsuit last week saying that her male superior tried to kiss her at a pool party at his house and that his wife, who is also a Louisville police officer and her direct supervisor, supported the kiss.
Carby says in court documents that the “adults only” party for members of the Special Victims Unit was held at their house in 2020 by Lt. Jeff Lauder and his wife, Maj. Shannon Lauder.
Carby says that the hosts quickly got drunk, and Shannon Lauder kissed a detective in front of all the other guests before taking him to another part of the house and leaving them there.
The papers say that Jeff Lauder went up to Carby, who was a married mother, made some comments about her body, and then directly asked her to have sex.
Lauder said that since he and his wife were living together, she agreed with the plan. “Lauren was shocked, disturbed and extremely uncomfortable,” the suit states.
The suit says that Carby turned down the offer and left the party. She didn’t make a formal complaint at the time because she was afraid of getting in trouble.
There were reports about the party going around the department in 2022, so an investigation was started. It never really went anywhere, though. The service is now being sued by Carby for damages.
Christine Silk, another female cop, filed a lawsuit saying that two male coworkers had been harassing her and one of them had sent her a picture of his penis.
Officer Justin LeMon, one of the suspects, asked her if she would be interested in dating him if he wasn’t married. He also said that his wife didn’t like how much he used OnlyFans.
Lawyers for LeMon say he also made her read out loud sexual dreams he had written on his phone about her.
The papers say that her training officer, Officer Dale Cottongim, asked her rude questions about her son and said other rude things in front of other officers.
Christine was at school, and Cottongim asked her if she had a one-night stand to get her kid. “Is that why the child doesn’t have a dad?” what the lawsuit says.
The papers say he got a slap on the wrist in the form of a letter of warning and was moved against his will.
She said that the department didn’t do enough to keep the army veteran safe from abuse at work.
“Christine is not the only victim of harassment and discrimination to suffer by the actions and failures of LMPD,” it says. “LMPD remains a disturbing internal culture where pervasive patterns of sexual misconduct and predatory behaviors of officers have been repeatedly excused, ignored, concealed, and fostered.”
CNN reports that Shannon Lauder has also said that Maj. Brian Kuriger sexually harassed her, but she has not yet filed a lawsuit.
A hidden tape from a meeting on May 22 showed Lauder telling Gwinn-Villaroel that Kuriger “has sexually harassed and attacked me.” I’m not able to work with him.
According to the local news source, Gwinn-Villaroel announced Kuriger’s rise after a short pause.
Mayor Craig Greenberg of Louisville fired the police head for not handling Lauder’s complaint properly, saying that the sexual harassment claims were “unacceptable and inexcusable.” The board member Gwinn-Villaroel quit on Tuesday.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a representative for the Louisville Metro Police Department said that the department does not accept sexual misbehavior. “We take every allegation of this nature seriously and immediately launch internal investigations once they are brought to our attention,” it says.
The spokesperson also said that one of the officers named in the lawsuits was moved to a different unit and the other was put on administrative leave until the probe was over.
Last month, the agency got a lot of bad press when golf superstar Scottie Scheffler was charged with second-degree assault of a police officer, criminal mischief, reckless driving, and not following an officer’s traffic signs.
Later, the charges were dropped after local officials said the case was messed up because of a “big misunderstanding” about how he got into the Valhalla Golf Club during the PGA Championship.