Former Bergen SWAT officer says colleagues taunted him for being gay, asked if he had AIDS

A former county police officer is claiming other county law enforcement officers sexually harassed and demeaned him by calling him a variety of slurs because he is gay, according to a lawsuit filed by 21 current and former county police members.

Andrew Kara, a former Bureau of Police Services officer, alleges in the December lawsuit that he was routinely taunted with homophobic slurs during his time on Bergen County's regional SWAT team, which is run by Michael Saudino, the Bergen County sheriff, and Gurbir S. Grewal, the Bergen County prosecutor.

Sgt. Frank Tripodi, a sheriff's officer, allegedly mocked Kara by referring to sexual acts and saying Kara has had "worse things spilled on his face" than water, the suit says.

Some officers allegedly mocked Kara, a former Marine, by saying he had AIDS and asking if he had medicine, the suit says.

Despite a report about the incident to Detective Juan Arroyave, the Prosecutor’s Office employee overseeing the SWAT team, the “offensive, hostile and abusive conduct against Kara did not cease,” the suit says. The insults were part of a “relentless and malicious pattern” of harassment against Kara that created a hostile work environment and led to Kara’s dismissal during last year’s mass layoff of county police, the suit says.

Christian Fuscarino, executive director of the LGBTQ advocacy group Garden State Equality, said in a prepared statement that the allegations are a "perfect example of the ignorance and discrimination faced by so many members in the LGBTQ community."

"A work environment is not a place that anyone should feel threatened or demeaned by their colleagues," Fuscarino said.

Neither Tripodi nor Arroyave could be reached for comment.

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Keep scrolling to read the complaint.

The lawsuit, filed in state Superior Court in Paterson, also claims Saudino retaliated against the 21 officers after they rejected a labor deal last year that would have made them sheriff's officers. Saudino allegedly changed assignments, forced retirements, demoted qualified officers to elevate those loyal to him, and created a hostile work environment for those still employed at the bureau, the suit says.

It also alleges Saudino retaliated against officers who reported and investigated a pile of contaminated soil at the Bergen County Police Academy gun range.

“The idea is that my clients were expected to just take demotions, loss of pay, loss of rights and everything else, so that Saudino can have sheriff’s officers take their positions,” said Matthew Peluso, the Princeton attorney representing the plaintiffs. “It’s direct retaliation, and it always has been.”

The suit names Saudino, the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, the Bergen County Sheriff's Office and the county government as defendants.

Grewal, the county prosecutor nominated by Gov.-elect Phil Murphy to serve as state attorney general, declined to comment Tuesday. Saudino also declined to comment.

William Schievella, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office, has said he would not comment on pending litigation.

The 21 bureau officers are seeking compensatory and punitive damages, as well as attorney's fees. Each of the plaintiffs had been laid off or demoted, Peluso said.

The suit also outlines several other allegations against Saudino, who has run the bureau since it was created in 2015 from remnants of the Bergen County Police Department.

Read the complaint below.

Several officers say Saudino retaliated against them because they voted against his labor proposal, which would have dissolved the bureau's police union. A number of officers claim they were stripped of their authority and assignments as Saudino sought to create a hostile work environment and "pressure, harass, intimidate and coerce the demoted Plaintiffs to resign or involuntarily retire earlier than the mandatory retirement age,” the suit says.

Saudino allegedly told one officer, Sara Toro, that she didn’t have to worry about demotion or termination “since she didn’t have children,” the suit says. The lawsuit calls this “clearly demeaning, unprofessional and gender discriminatory.”

Another, former Capt. Alan Brundage, claimed he was demoted after refusing to change his findings on an internal affairs complaint, the suit says. Brundage was forced into involuntary retirement in August, according to the suit.

Another officer, Denise Ryaby, said she was denied a desired assignment with the county bomb squad because she rejected Saudino’s labor deal, the suit says.

John Baker, a bureau officer, said Arroyave, of the Prosecutor’s Office, tried to physically attack him when Baker protested his suspension from the SWAT team over administrative issues, the suit says.

Baker claims employees of the Sheriff’s Office and Prosecutor’s Office colluded to retaliate against him because he voted against Saudino’s proposal, the suit says.

The lawsuit also alleges Saudino told union reps he plans to fire the officers who have filed suit against him.

Saudino has said his labor deal would have avoided last June’s layoffs, which cut 26 bureau officers and demoted 11 more. The sheriff said the layoffs were necessary because of a budget crunch — he needed 35 more sheriff's officers instead of police officers to meet court security and bail reform mandates. But he was restrained by a budget cap.

The bureau’s police union rejected the deal last June, saying it would lead to more hours, less pay, worse benefits and a loss of seniority, the suit says. Layoffs quickly followed.

The suit claims Saudino made those layoffs and demotions in retaliation for that rejection. It added that 24 of the 37 affected officers were veterans.

Peluso, the attorney, also disputes Saudino’s budget complaints, saying the sheriff has promoted and hired sheriff’s officers to replace the bureau officers since the layoffs.

Email: janoski@northjersey.com