Tempe City Councilman Kolby Granville appears to have violated the city's code-of-conduct based on misconduct allegations made by three women, an independent investigator hired by the city said.

Attorney Sarah Barnes wrote in findings obtained by The Arizona Republic that the allegations are "more probably true than not." Granville's interactions with the three women "constitute abusive attitude, language, behavior and/or conduct" and his behavior resulted in "physical harm, or the threat thereof," she wrote.

The investigator wrote that formal censure is currently the maximum sanction but that "the maximum sanction could be changed to removal from office in the near future."

The Tempe City Council is expected to discuss the allegations against the 44-year-old Granville later this month.

Among the new findings in the report prepared by Barnes:

Granville in 2014 is accused of sticking his hand down the pants of one of the women. He "digitally penetrated her vagina with his fingers," the investigator wrote. The woman said she told Granville to stop, but he didn’t remove his hand. Granville denied the allegation, telling the investigator "Yeah, I’m sure that didn’t happen," according to a copy of his interview transcript released Friday.

A Phoenix police detective who investigated allegations made by the three woman in 2018 for possible criminal charges said she believed the women were telling the truth. Their emails and other information corroborated their stories, she said.

Their emails and other information corroborated their stories, she said. The detective said the three women were "very insecure and vulnerable" and Granville chose them specifically because they would be easy to manipulate. The detective said she didn't recommend prosecution because the women declined to prosecute, and Granville refused to talk to police.

three women were "very insecure and vulnerable" and Granville chose them specifically because they would be easy to manipulate. The detective said she didn't recommend prosecution because the women declined to prosecute, and Granville refused to talk to police. Granville, during an interview for the independent investigation, came across as "evasive and deceptive," the report said. He vacillated between remembering specific details and not remembering other aspects.

The report said the councilman's only blanket denial was that he did not provide alcohol to the underage women. He often responded to questions with "I don't recall that happening" or "that does not make sense," instead of unambiguous denials.

Granville told the investigator that Vice Mayor Lauren Kuby asked him in private on several occasions to resign over the allegations. She reportedly told him at an elementary-school spelling bee the council was attending that he should leave. “She was like, ‘I don’t think you should be here. I think it’s inappropriate for you to be around children,'" Granville told the investigator.

After the police investigation began, the father of an eighth-grade student at the school where Granville used to work told police his daughter received a Facebook friend request and an Instagram request from Granville, which his daughter thought was "weird." She didn't accept and never had any contact with Granville. Granville told the investigator he has no recollection of this.

Documents released by the city on Friday under the Arizona Public Records Law didn't reveal the investigator's recommendations on whether Granville violated city code-of-conduct policies; those portions were redacted by the city.

The Republic was able to obtain an unredacted copy of the recommendations.

Granville did not return a call, email and text message seeking comment on Friday.

The two-term councilman has denied wrongdoing.

"I deny the allegations because I have no memory of them happening, and because if they had happened as described, I would have a memory of them happening. I deny the allegations because I would not have done the things as described because they are out of character," Granville wrote in his response to the investigator's report.

Misconduct allegations surface in late 2017

Granville was fired from his teaching job at Tempe Preparatory Academy in December 2017 after two former students alleged he gave them alcohol when they were under 21 and one said he made unwanted sexual advances. A third woman filed a complaint the next month and alleged Granville made unwanted advances toward her shortly after she had graduated from Tempe Prep. The women were not in Granville's classes while at the school.

Granville was never charged. A Phoenix police investigation, initiated at Tempe’s request, was closed in March 2018 because the victims would not aid prosecution, police said.

After the police investigation was closed, the Tempe City Council hired Barnes for the separate council code-of-conduct investigation into the allegations.

First complaint: Underage alcohol

Tempe Prep launched an investigation in late November 2017 after a former student complained that Granville provided her with alcohol on at least four occasions while she was underage, including once in September 2016 when they spent the night in the same room at the Luxor hotel and casino in Las Vegas.

Granville told The Republic in a previous interview he was in a consensual relationship with the 2015 Tempe Prep graduate, who he said was never a student in any of his classes. He denies providing her with alcohol when she was under 21.

"We went out once and then, maybe a year later, started dating. We dated six months, and it didn't work out and I broke it off," he told The Republic.

Granville told the independent investigator that he asked the young woman to keep their relationship a secret because he thought it could get him fired and because his council colleagues would try to use it as “political fodder.”

“Same reason you can’t be a Communist in the 1950s. Same reason you can’t be gay in the 1980s. My life exists the way it exists now because I was dating her,” he said. “Because something can be permissible to do, but not socially acceptable to do.”

Second complaint: He 'insisted on getting me drinks even though I was underage'

Two days after the first complaint was filed, school officials said they received a second complaint from another former student, who said in an email she was “close friends” with the woman who made the first complaint.

The former student said Granville was never her teacher, but she knew him from attending the school.

The 2013 Tempe Prep graduate wrote that she “reconnected” with Granville in the summer of 2014, and he bought alcohol for her, even though she was underage, and flirted with her.

In winter 2014, her email complaint said, Granville invited her to go to San Francisco with him around New Year’s Eve. He offered to pay for travel and expenses.

She agreed. Several weeks before the trip, he invited her to his house, where he gave her “multiple gin and cranberry cocktails," she wrote in the email to school officials.

She told him she was too drunk to drive and asked if she could sleep on his couch.

“Mr. Granville remarked that I should instead sleep in his bed since it was warmer and more comfortable,” she wrote in the email.

Once in the bed, he moved closer to her and stuck a hand down her pants, and "digitally penetrated her vagina with his fingers," the investigator wrote in the city's investigation.

She said she told him to stop, but he didn’t remove his hand.

She got out of bed, ran to her car and cried. Then she drove home.

The former student wrote that Granville asked her the next day if she still wanted to go to San Francisco, telling her, “It was unlikely I would ever get this chance again and I should take it.”

She told school officials she was persuaded to go with him to San Francisco and “no more advances were made after the trip.”

Granville said he was friends with the woman and her parents, but he has no recollection of the events she alleged. In an interview with the independent investigator, he denied penetrating the woman.

Third complaint: 'Violated, intimidated, uncomfortable'

A third woman came forward with a complaint in January 2018 to the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools, detailing incidents with Granville that "made me feel violated, intimidated and uncomfortable."

She graduated from Tempe Prep in 2013, though she never had a class with Granville. She said she was introduced to him in August 2013 by a teacher at the school because she was planning a trip to Europe. The teacher suggested the young woman speak with Granville as he had experience traveling abroad, according to the complaint.

The woman alleges Granville invited her to his house in September 2013 to eat ice cream and discuss her upcoming travel. She accepted, and the two went to the roof to talk. After several minutes of conversation, he asked her to lay her head on his chest, the complaint said.

"When I appeared to take too long to think about it, he said it wasn't a big deal and pulled me closer," she said in the complaint. He then began to talk "in detail" about his sexual experiences, which she said made her feel uncomfortable.

He kept taking her hand and putting it on his chest; she would pull it away and he would put it back, the complaint alleges.

When she told Granville she had to leave, he asked her if she was 18, according to the complaint. She told him she wasn't. She was 17 at the time.

"Well that shoots down my goodnight kiss idea," she alleges Granville said in reply.

Two months later, she said she met with Granville again at his home to return travel books she had borrowed. At this point, she had turned 18.

Granville opened the door and told her to put the books on the table. After she did, she noticed he had closed the door and moved closer to her, according to the complaint.

He kissed her without consent, she alleges.

She said she wanted to leave. But she said he moved in front of the door and told her he did not want her to leave yet. He put his hands on her upper arm while slightly touching her chest and kissed her again without her consent, according to the complaint.

“Just the look in his eyes made me feel really scared,” she said to The Republic in a previous interview.

She said she told him again that she thought she should leave and made it clear she was uncomfortable.

Her complaint says Granville replied that "maybe I should leave before we both 'do something we regret.'"

Granville told the independent investigator he remembers the woman coming over to his house where they went onto the roof. He asked her how old she was.

When she told him she was 17, he asked her to leave and "she was pretty upset and I said, 'Look, if you want to try to get together as friends in a year or two, I’m happy to do that, but you got to go,' and so that was that," he said, according to the interview transcript.

Granville denied that the woman returned to his home after her trip abroad.

"I'm sure that did not happen," he told the investigator.

Report now in council's hands

Now that the investigation is complete, the council will decide the next steps.

The council could do nothing, seek to censure Granville or seek to remove him from office.

Tempe voters in November gave the City Council the power to oust a member for misconduct. It's unclear if the new rules could be applied to Granville should that be warranted.

Vice Mayor Lauren Kuby told The Republic that the council will discuss the allegations during a March 21 study session, where the public will be invited to speak.

“The sexual-assault allegations are deeply disturbing and serious,” she said. “Ultimately, what we do will be dependent on what residents are telling us. I have opinions on this, and I have previously publicly asked him to resign, but the public needs to weigh in on these allegations.”

Kuby said she is seeking clarification from the city attorney on what the city’s next steps are legally.

She had previously said the charter change could not be applied retroactively to Granville, but now says because the council was unaware of many of the details released in the documents, she believes the new rules can be applied.

“This is the first time the council has seen these allegations. This is all new,” she said. “I just want to keep an open mind.”

Other council members could not be reached or declined comment Friday.

During an interview with the investigator, Granville acknowledged that he could be removed from the council over the allegations. Asked if he believes the new rules would be applied retroactively to him, he said he thinks his council colleagues would try.

“I think given how popular I generally am among Tempe residents, I think that they’re going to have to do a (weight) on how much they want to get rid of me versus how much the fallout is worth,” he said in a transcript of the interview.

Granville told the city investigator that he didn’t think he had broken the city’s code-of-conduct rules in this case or in two others where he was formally reprimanded. The two past censures, both in 2017, were for Granville's language, in one case with an employee and another in a remark about a constituent on social media.

Granville was first elected to the Tempe City Council in 2012 and is known for being active in neighborhood associations. He isn't shy about voting contrary to his colleagues on the council. He was the only council member to vote against a controversial $21 million tax break to bring a hotel and conference center to Tempe.

His term expires in 2020, and he has previously said he has no plans to seek re-election.

Asked if he intended to resign, as Kuby and Councilman Randy Keating have called for, Granville said he would like to but believed it was his duty to continue serving.

“Because 15,000 people voted for me to do a job and I believe I should do that job. And so, it’s a horrible, miserable, terrible job where I put up with stuff like this, but it’s really not about what I want to do," he said.

READ THE REPORTS FROM THE GRANVILLE MISCONDUCT INQUIRY:

Reach reporter Paulina Pineda at paulina.pineda@azcentral.com or 602-444-8130. Follow her on Twitter: @paulinapineda22

Reach reporter Anne Ryman at anne.ryman@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8072. Follow her on Twitter at @anneryman.

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