Sources: Sex, lies, videotape — How WXYZ's Malcom Maddox got away with it all

On camera, Malcom Maddox was the smiling TV anchorman who came off as a friendly, easygoing and trusted face of WXYZ.

Off-camera, coworkers say, he was a raunchy philanderer who sexually harassed women at work, flashing cell phone pictures of his penis to multiple coworkers, asking them to rank his genitalia on a 10-point scale.

At least four women complained to the station's human resources department about the pics, sources said, but Maddox never lost his job.

Then came the #metoo movement.

Maddox, a married father and Pittsburgh native who worked his way up the TV ranks with gigs in four states, is one of many high-profile men to get caught up in a growing movement targeting sexual harassment in the workplace. A woman said Maddox crossed the line one too many times at work — and it cost him.

The sex scandal leveled Maddox's ascending career. And now, several former employees at WXYZ are speaking out about the station's climate and its handling of an explosive situation that could cost the station money and credibility.

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Last month, Maddox left his six-figure anchorman job with WXYZ after the station got socked with a $100-million lawsuit by former TV reporter Tara Edwards, who claims that Maddox sexually harassed her, but that the station failed to adequately respond.

The Free Press spoke to five former WXYZ employees who said the station supported an unhealthy work environment that allowed Maddox to engage in inappropriate behavior and ignored staff complaints about his conduct, which included engaging in sexual activity at the station, bringing girlfriends to work when he was married and talking about things that made female coworkers uncomfortable.

WXYZ will not say whether Maddox left his job willingly, or was fired.

For Edwards and many others at WXYZ, Maddox's departure was long overdue.

According to multiple former employees at WXYZ, at least four women complained to HR about Maddox in recent years, alleging he showed them cell phone photos of his penis in the newsroom. In one instance, a woman said, the response from HR was baffling.

"Someone in HR asked, 'How do you know it's his?' " the woman recalled. "I said, 'Does it matter?' "

An investigation followed with Maddox being suspended for two weeks. That was 2015.

Two years later, late last year, the issue surfaced again when a local pastor publicly claimed that WXYZ had let Maddox get away with sexual harassment, promoting him instead of punishing him. Another investigation followed.

Maddox stayed on the air.

"We spoke up. We did what we were supposed to do and you guys slap him on the wrist and give him a promotion?" said one of Maddox's accusers, who spoke to the Free Press this week and requested anonymity. "Two times now, in the shadow of the MeToo movement, they put him right back on TV? ... I don't get it. I just don't get it."

Perhaps most egregious, former employees and lawyers argue, is that WXYZ promoted Maddox to the prestigious morning anchor spot in 2015 within weeks of learning that he had sexted women in the newsroom, including Edwards. He also is accused of sending Edwards a sexually explicit video of a woman engaged in a sex act, and spreading false rumors at the office that he and Edwards had an affair.

"They closed their eyes when it was brought to their attention and they let it go on," said Nima Shaffe, a former weekend morning anchor at WXYZ who worked there when Edwards filed her complaint with the station in 2015.

"It was ugly. Everyone was whispering. And poor Tara was put in a sense of exile. It was disgusting to watch, disgusting to see it unfold in front of you," Shaffe said. "All she did was go forward."

Shaffe, along with other former WXYZ employees, said they believe that station management turned a blind eye to Maddox's behavior because they thought "this guy was the next best thing" and that he could help improve the station's sagging ratings.

"He was a black male who they wanted for the morning show. If that was a photographer, an editor, or a producer — they would have been gone," said another former WXYZ employee who worked with Maddox and Edwards and commended the woman for filing a complaint with the station.

"He wouldn't stop, so she went to (management). She was worried that Malcom was going to ruin her life," the employee said, noting she saw a "big difference in Tara" after she filed her complaint.

"I remember afterwards all of the rumors flying. Nothing happened. And she became pretty introverted after that," the employee said.

WXYZ General Manager Mike Murri declined comment, citing pending litigation. But he stressed the following:

"WXYZ and its parent company, Scripps, are dedicated to maintaining respectful workplace environments. We take very seriously allegations of sexual harassment or any type of workplace harassment. We are committed to working promptly and vigorously to pursue employee concerns of mistreatment across all of our operations."

Maddox did not respond to requests for comment.

'I didn't want to rock the boat'

Edwards worked alongside Maddox for years before complaining to HR about him and said he could be funny, and gross. She considered him a "very good friend" and put up with his sexual comments until he crossed the line.

According to a confidential e-mail written by Edwards to WXYZ management, Edwards accused Maddox of spreading false rumors in the newsroom that they were having an affair, and making up "revolting" "graphic" and "disgusting" stories about her that caused her to get shunned at work.

"I have remained silent for so long (about) the disgusting things Malcolm has said to me over the years. Instead of contacting HR, I protected him," Edwards wrote in the e-mail. "I didn't want to rock the boat. I just wanted to do my job and go home."

One photographer told Edwards he "could not look at her" for months after hearing the rumors, the e-mail states, while another admitted he "treated me differently based on what Malcolm told him."

Edwards wrote the e-mail in January 2015, just as the station was preparing to promote Maddox to morning anchor.

"Just to be clear, I am aware how newsrooms can be and the sense of humor we all can have," Edwards wrote. But, she added: "This man went above and beyond to say things for shock value that would leave your face twisted in disbelief."

According to her lawsuit, Maddox tried many times to kiss Edwards on the face and mouth at work, asked her "if he could spit in (her) mouth and urinate on her during sexual activity" and showed her a video of a woman performing a sex act and asking if she was jealous.

Edwards mentioned the video in the e-mail: "Just last year (2014), he showed me a highly inappropriate picture and a video. I am not talking about random images from the Internet. It was so offensive. I yelled at him in the newsroom and stopped speaking to him for awhile."

The false rumors about the affair pushed Edwards over the edge, she said, writing "I have never had a romantic/sexual relationship with him and I have made that extremely clear to him through the years that that would never happen. I have never seen this man outside of work — not even for a friendly drink."

She stressed: "He has left me no choice but to speak up."

'A sense of favoritism'

The WXYZ case has raised eyebrows, with employment attorneys scrutinizing the station's handling of the sexual harassment complaints. A key issue is whether the sexual conduct was consensual, legal professionals say.

If the conduct in question was part of a consensual relationship, then discipline is typically not warranted. But if the penis pictures, crude text messages and sexual comments were unsolicited or unwanted, then disciplinary action needs to be taken.

"You have to prove that it was unwelcome conduct," said Aaron Holt, an employment law attorney in Houston, Texas who stressed that an employer's duty is "to make sure the workforce is free of harassment.

"Sending pictures of your genitalia is very egregious conduct that you never want to be seen as tolerating," said Holt, who believes Maddox's promotion might have sent the wrong message to employees.

"It gives people a sense of favoritism," Holt said, stressing the more egregious an employee's behavior, the more severe the punishment should be.

"The promotion really sends a poor message. You need to take an action that will correct a work environment" said Holt of the Cozen O'Connor law firm, which exclusively represents employers nationwide in workplace disputes.

Holt said that employers "are perfectly within their right to terminate someone" who is sending nude pics of their genitalia to coworkers, "even if they have a clean record.

"People are taking these allegations more seriously and rightly so," Holt said. "Employers should be mindful of the current environment."

New Jersey attorney Kathleen Connelly, who specializes in employment law and workplace investigations, questioned WXYZ's investigation given the severity of the allegations.

"It appears that the company did not handle this situation properly and perhaps conducted a sham investigation," said Connelly, a partner at the Lindabury law firm who has practiced employment law for nearly 30 years. "In this situation, if the allegations are true ... the two-week suspension does not appear to be a sufficient penalty."

For Connelly, a man showing women pictures of his genitals and graphic videos of another women performing a sex act is grounds for termination.

"Those are actions that clearly would justify women in the workplace feeling uncomfortable around this individual and would clearly warrant consideration of a termination," Connelly said. "The promotion to me — if all the allegations are true — just compounds the wrong."

Edwards is being represented by bulldog attorney Geoffrey Fieger, who has argued that WXYZ covered up the harassment and protected Maddox because he was a high-profile anchor.

WXYZ has conceded that Maddox did engage in misbehavior, stating that its 2015 investigation "found that Maddox had engaged in inappropriate communications with coworkers that did not conform to (company) policies." As a result, the company said, Maddox received a two-week unpaid suspension.

When the scandal surfaced again in 2017, WXYZ said it opened another investigation, but found nothing new.

That's because, his accusers say, they had said all they had to say in 2015 — but nobody listened.

Contact Tresa Baldas: at tbaldas@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @Tbaldas.