Sex harassment complaint sheds light on Galveston police chief's exit

Henry Porretto, who resigned as Galveston police chief, is accused of promising a promotion to a female officer in return for sexual favors. Henry Porretto, who resigned as Galveston police chief, is accused of promising a promotion to a female officer in return for sexual favors. Photo: Galveston Police Department Photo: Galveston Police Department Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Sex harassment complaint sheds light on Galveston police chief's exit 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

GALVESTON – A federal discrimination complaint alleging former Galveston Police Chief Henry Porretto sought sexual favors from an employee sheds light on his abrupt resignation last fall.

The complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleges that Porretto, who is married, promised a promotion to a female officer in return for sexual favors over two years. Porretto denied her promotions and removed her from positions of responsibility after she began rebuffing his requests for sex, according to the complaint.

The woman, whose name is being withheld because she is an alleged victim of sexual harassment, accuses Porretto of pressuring her into a sexual relationship, said her attorney, Scott Armstrong.

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The complaint, filed in February, was revealed recently after the city council discussed it in closed session.

A phone message left for Porretto, who is now interim police chief for Mathis, was not immediately returned Thursday. He declined to respond to requests for comment last year on the events leading to his suspension and resignation.

Armstrong said he is awaiting permission from the EEOC to sue the city, but is open to a settlement. His client wants the city to acknowledge that she is blameless as part of any settlement, he said.

Porretto was suspended more than 10 months ago, but the city manager's office would only say then that he had been accused of violating the 1964 Civil Rights Act. A Houston law firm was hired to investigate the complaints against Porretto, but the investigation ended after he resigned Sept. 23 to take an earlier-than-planned retirement.

City Manager Brian Maxwell confirmed Thursday that the allegations referred to in the complaint contributed to Porretto's suspension.

The relationship between Porretto and the female officer began at a police charity event in December 2013, Armstrong said in an interview, but had ended by the time Porretto was suspended.

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"Essentially he is calling her to his office on a regular basis and once she's up there he is making requests for sexual favors and promising promotions and making racist comments as well," Armstrong said of Porretto, who served 25 years in the department and became chief in 2012.

He said the alleged sexual acts occurred on the job. "I don't know if it was fondling or full sexual contact," the attorney said.

The officer felt pressured into the relationship, Armstrong added. "She felt that this was now going to be required of her to maintain standing in the police department," he said.

"Once she said, 'I'm not doing this,' he began taking things away from her at work," Armstrong alleged.

A sergeant who worked on the street supervising other officers, the woman said she was assigned to desk duties and removed from the police honor guard, Armstrong alleged.

Sammy Ford IV, an attorney who initially handled the woman's case but passed it on to Armstrong before leaving the law firm, said in an interview soon after Porretto's resignation that his client was afraid of Porretto and initially made no attempt to report his alleged conduct.

She might not have lodged a complaint if her supervisor hadn't noticed that she seemed depressed and inquired about the reasons why, Ford said. She confided in her supervisor, who set up a meeting with the city manager without telling her, Ford said.

"She came in off patrol and the supervisor said, 'Get in the car,' and the supervisor drove to the city manager's office," Ford said.

Armstrong said his client is still employed as a police officer but has been shunned by some other officers since she made an oral complaint to the city manager.

Under Porretto, well-liked by most on the council during his tenure, the chief pushed for community policing as complaints against officers dropped.

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"I take great pride in leaving this department with an enhanced and valued open relationship with all segments of this great community," Porretto wrote in his letter of resignation.

Porretto nearly lost his job once before. In 2004 he was accused of firing at a suspect fleeing in an automobile who posed no threat, of trying to persuade another officer to turn off a dashboard video camera recording the incident, and of hiding the spent shell casing in his shirt pocket while other officers searched for it, according to city documents. He was fired but reinstated after he appealed.

In 2009, then-Police Chief Charles Wiley demoted Porretto, who was operations bureau chief, from captain to lieutenant. The demotion followed the highly publicized storming of a wedding party by at least 30 police officers in October 2008 at the San Luis Hotel outdoor bar. Guests accused officers of indiscriminately beating and firing stun guns at guests while needlessly screaming profanities.

Among the guests was then-Astros pitcher Brandon Backe. Porretto's demotion came a week after Wiley disciplined 13 officers for failing to properly document events during the fracas.

Backe and other wedding guests sued the police department and the case went to trial in Houston federal court last year while Porretto was chief. Although Porretto was not one of the 10 officers being sued, he appeared in court every day to show support for them. A jury awarded the plaintiffs $48,900 in damages.

Maxwell said last year that "it takes a great deal of courage for an employee to come forward" with a civil-rights complaint and that he wanted to ensure any complainant had "all the protections the city can offer."

Maxwell said the administration was protecting the employees and the city's liability. "We handled it swiftly, and we handled it right according to the rules," he said.