'Fifty Shades of Grey'-style sex scandal rocks Sheriff's office as 'explicit' texts between top official and officer reveal they called themselves Christian and Anastasia

Santa Barbara undersheriff Jim Peterson retired suddenly in October citing 'personal reasons' for his departure



Valerie Walston now claims she had a 12-month affair with Peterson

She has filed a lawsuit for sexual harassment saying she only consented because she feared he would get angry and harm her career if she didn't



She says she was demoted and then fired after the affair came to light

Complaint says he wanted her use names Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey during relationship in a reference to Fifty Shades Of Grey

A former Santa Barbara undersheriff who resigned in October has been accused of having a Fifty Shades Of Grey-style affair with a Search and Rescue spokeswoman.

Valerie Walston claims she was sexually harassed by Jim Peterson who asked her to use the names Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey, the characters from E L James' trilogy, during their relationship.

In a lawsuit filed on November 15, Walston says Peterson, who retired suddenly for 'personal reasons', sent her 11,500 explicit texts, explicit photographs and promised her a promotion if she slept with him.

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However, the job offer never materialised and Walston claims she was demoted and eventually fired from her 'dream job' after she ended the relationship.

Walston claims the tryst constitutes sexual harassment because she only consented after fearing Peterson would damage her career if she refused.



According to the Santa Barbara Independent, Walston joined the Search and Rescue Team in 2010 and was made spokeswoman, and in 2012 applied for a job as the Sheriff Department's public information officer when she met Peterson.



According to her complaint the next time she met Peterson was three weeks later at a conference when he told her she looked beautiful but told her she hadn't got the job, after which she left the event crying.

The pair swapped professional emails afterwards, with Walston messaging first to apologise for being upset, but soon she alleges Peterson began sending flirty messages and innuendos.



Walston says the pair swapped mobile numbers and over the course of 12 months exchanged 11,500 texts in which he sent her 'extremely sexually explicit' messages and asked her 'to speak French to him'.

She alleges the pair made Bill Brown - the name of Peterson's superior - their safe word in case anything he said upset her, but she didn't stop the conversation for fears about her job.

Peterson allegedly sent her pictures of himself 'in different states of sexual arousal' and she sent some images back.

After she voiced concerns about him being married and her having a boyfriend, Walston says he responded: 'My wife and I have an arrangement and understanding. Hahahaha.'

Call me Christian: in her complaint Walston says Peterson asked her to use Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey instead of their real names in reference to E L James' erotic novel

According to the lawsuit the pair then met in secluded locations including car parks in order to drink and 'kiss, grope, and fondle each other'.

One one occasion Walston says she even met Peterson in his suite during the California Undersheriff Conference.



However in July Walston was told Peterson had lied to her about the information officer role she was applying for, after which she handed the messages and nude photos to her superiors and an investigation was launched.

Shortly afterwards, in September, Walston's job was eliminated and she was made into a marketing officer, before being let go on October 22.

Concluding the claim, her lawyer Gerry Tetalman said: 'Ms. Walston’s "termination" on October 22, 2013, was clearly pretextual due to the fact that she was forced to engage in a sexual relationship with Mr. Peterson.



'Finally, as a result of everything that has happened, she has also been blackballed in the community and lost everything that she had held so dear to her.'

According to the claim's cover sheet, Walston is seeking 'well in excess' of $10,000 (£6,100).



On October 14 Peterson handed in his notice, and left his 30-year career in law enforcement just two days later, after serving two and a half years as undersheriff.







