Penis jokes and 'immaturity': Neptune releases secret report on police harassment allegations

An investigator concluded placing a magnet saying I (heart shape sign) love my penis did not amount to harassment, but instead reflected immaturity

The Seidle family attorney Shelley A. Stangler as well as the NAACP slammed the report's conclusions

Within the report the investigator repeatedly concluded the women's allegations to not be credible

NEPTUNE - A private investigator hired by the township to look into two female officers' allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination in the Neptune Township Police Department largely concluded the claims were not credible, a long-secret report stated.

A redacted version of the investigator's 2014 report on the allegations was released Tuesday afternoon, after being kept from public view for more than four years after it was submitted to the township. You can see a video above this story announcing the report's release.

The report, produced by Gregory K. Turner Investigations & Consulting LLC at a cost of $27,000 to taxpayers, looked into allegations that were made by police officers Christine Savage and Elena Gonzalez.

Gonzalez and Savage alleged they were passed over for promotions and desired assignments. They also claimed they were sexually harassed.

The women filed lawsuits against the township, which they settled for $330,000 each in 2014 and received promotions to sergeant under the terms of the agreements. The township did not admit wrongdoing in the settlements.

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But both women subsequently have filed new lawsuits against the township, alleging the harassment and discrimination never abated. Gonzalez left the force in April 2017. Savage continues to serve on the police force.

The report's release was met with more questions from the women's attorneys, Donald F. Burke and Donald F. Burke Jr., who are representing them in their lawsuits. The report also generated an outcry from the local chapter of the NAACP, which took issue with some of its conclusions and findings.

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"The public is fortunate Neptune Township finally agreed to release the Turner Report, we only wish it didn't require three years of litigation. We are still left in the dark about remedial action taken, if any, in light of the Turner Report's findings. We will continue to pursue that inquiry," Burke Jr. said in an email to the Asbury Park Press.

Michael McGhee, a spokesman for the Police Department, declined to comment when reached by the Press.

'Simply reveals the immaturity'

Turner conducted 36 interviews as part of the investigation, the report says. He could not be reached by the Press for comment Tuesday.

Among his conclusions, Turner found that "there was no harassment directed specifically toward Gonzalez" when a vehicle she used for duty had a magnet placed on it that stated, "I (heart-shaped sign) my penis."

The vehicle also was used by other officers on the force, the document states.

In his conclusion, Turner said, "this does not rise to the level of harassment, but simply reveals the (sic) immaturity of others and undermines the validity of the allegation."

Savage and Gonzalez both complained that they witnessed a male police officer, identified in the report as "E," place his hands in the area of his genitals, point his penis at others as if he is shooting them, and say 'pow-pow-pow.'" Savage backed up that account in her interview that was conducted for the report.

Turner says he determined that the "incidents regarding 'E' and referred to as the 'pow pow pow' episodes did occur" but said they did not take place as described by Gonzalez. The report said "numerous others interviewed" described it as "holding an object below his waist encouraging others to look in that direction."

Neptune Officer Kyheem Davis said he corroborated Gonzalez and Savage's accounts of wrongful conduct on the force in a 2013 interview for the Turner investigation.

In July 2016, he alleged that his public support resulted in retaliation: Davis faced discipline for driving faster than 100 mph en route to a 2014 fatal crash and for an incident where he was accused of mishandling an iPhone seized during an arrest.

(Story continues below the report.)

'Sharp Criticism'

Williams noted that since the report was completed the police department has received accreditation from the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police and restructured the management of the police department from being overseen by CFO Michael Bascom, who served as police director, to a three-person police committee.

Although the Turner report was submitted to the township in January 2014, Township Committee members never voted to accept the report and repeatedly had said they never read it.

By not voting to officially "accept" the report, the report remained a nonpublic document and kept from view.

The police committee, formed last summer, is comprised of Williams, Committeeman Michael Brantley and former Newark Police Capt. Barry Colicelli.

"This report gives us one more tool to continue to set the bar when it comes to reducing crime in our neighborhoods," Williams said. He declined to comment on the conclusions of the report, as did Deputy Mayor Carol Rizzo.

The report's conclusions were met with sharp criticism from the attorney representing the family of Tamara Wilson-Seidle, which has filed a wrongful death lawsuit where the township and it's police department are listed as defendants. She was shot to death by her ex-husband and then-police Sgt. Philip Seidle in 2015. Seidle is serving a 30-year prison sentence for aggravated manslaughter.

"I read the report," said the attorney, Shelley Stangler. " It shows a disturbing lack of respect, or even interest, in complaints made by women, despite what I read as solid evidence of sexually demeaning incidents and vulgar comments."

When the Seidle children filed their lawsuit last year, Stangler said she would seek a copy of the Turner report, saying its findings could help shed light on the climate of the Neptune Township Police Department.

Adrienne Sanders, the president of the Asbury Park/Neptune Chapter of the NAACP also took issue with the report's conclusions.

"As the president of the Asbury Park Neptune NAACP and as a human being, after only reading the first 13 pages, I find the behavior absolutely deplorable, unprofessional, lewd, disgusting and it outlines an accepted and practiced pattern of sexual harassment and discrimination, within the police department," Sanders said, in a post on Facebook. "There must be justice and systemic change in dealing with this matter."

Austin Bogues 732-643-4009; abogues@gannettnj.com