Sergio Bichao

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Former volunteer firefighter Kerry %22Kira%22 Mansueto sued Carteret in 2011 claiming sexual harassment and retaliation.

In depositions%2C some firefighters admitted wrongdoing.

Mansueto and her attorney will get a %241.1 million settlement as the borough has filed charges against four firefighters.

CARTERET – A former borough volunteer firefighter and her attorney say Mayor Daniel Reiman may be downplaying a sexual harassment lawsuit that resulted in a $1.1 million settlement last week and a slew of workplace disciplinary charges against four firefighters.

Kerry "Kira" Mansueto filed the complaint in 2011, alleging persistent discrimination, pervasive sexual harassment, such as a firefighter texting her a picture of his penis and another breaking into her home to ask for oral sex, and retaliation that included being left in a burning house.

The Home News Tribune and MyCentralJersey.com in October reported the details of the lawsuit for the first time in a report that detailed some contradictory testimony by borough workers, as well as admissions that firefighters lied or committed wrongdoing, and acknowledgments by the former fire chief that he did not fully investigate her complaints.

Reiman first acknowledged the lawsuit after the report last month. On the afternoon before Thanksgiving, his office released a copy of the settlement agreement to the press and announced the disciplinary complaints, on charges ranging from conduct unbecoming of a public employee to sexual harassment, against the unnamed firefighters.

In a prepared statement Wednesday, Reiman blamed the lawsuit and Mansueto's "failure to cooperate with the borough's disciplinary investigation" as the reason for the delay in the charges.

Reiman said he ordered an investigation by the former fire chief and the borough law director "the very day that these allegations were reported to my office."

"Let me be clear: The settlement of the civil legal matter does not mean that the borough accepts any or all claims in the initial complaint as fact," Reiman said. "However, based on the investigation to date, there appears to be evidence of behavior that is disturbing and unacceptable — and there is no department or office in this community where such things will be tolerated."

Mansueto's attorney, Alan Genitempo of the Nutley firm Piro, Zinna, Cifelli, Paris & Genitempo, called Reiman's statement a "crock."

"She asked them to investigate. If they had taken action back then, there never would have been a lawsuit," he said Wednesday. "They failed to recognize their obligations. I think that they did what people should never do and that is to take the words of the harasser over the victim without ever speaking to her."

In her first public comments, Mansueto last week said Reiman's remarks were "a little upsetting because it's not a factual statement."

"Nobody was ever disciplined," she said. "The mayor blew me off. He wouldn't return my calls. His calendar was always booked. The fact that all that happened and now the mayor is saying that I never reported anything is very, very disturbing."

Discrimination and civil rights lawsuits against public agencies are usually settled before trial in an effort to avoid mounting legal fees or potential jury awards and difficult testimony in court. Settlement amounts reported throughout Central Jersey in recent years, however, have amounted to far less than the total reached in this case.

The settlement includes $407,636 in attorney's fees and court costs, $27,000 in medical expenses and costs, and $664,864 to settle Mansueto's claims for lost wages and damages.

Mansueto also could get more money for expenses and lost wages if she cooperates in any investigation or prosecution of borough firefighters.

Mansueto agreed not to seek a job with the borough and to cooperate with any workplace investigation or prosecution of borough employees. But the settlement also gives her a letter of recommendation from retired Fire Chief Brian O'Connor, who had been named as a defendant in the lawsuit, and allows her to use the borough attorney as a job reference.

The settlement agreement also calls for continued biannual sexual harassment and discrimination training for borough employees.

Reiman's news release last week did not list the total settlement amount or all of the provisions of the agreement.

READ THE FULL SETTLEMENT: Scroll to the end of this story.

Genitempo said the value of the settlement "reflects the severity of the case" and that the borough's witnesses were "lacking credibility." He said attorneys took more than 40 sworn depositions of witnesses.

"It was a hard-fought case despite their attempts to minimize it. You don't see many settlements in that range," Genitempo said.

The settlement checks will be issued by the borough's insurance carrier.

Reiman could not be reached for a follow-up comments last week.

Mansueto said money was not an issue for her.

"I don't feel relieved. I really wanted to go to trial," she said.

"I definitely wanted certain things changed. I wanted to have policies, procedures put in place, annual training for harassment and sexual discrimination. Change has definitely occurred in that department. The new chief, Mark Hruska, he has zero tolerance. A lot the guys don't like it now that he's not standing for it."

Among the allegations in the lawsuit, which was dismissed before reaching trial because of the settlement:

• Mansueto was left alone in a burning building in November 2010, an undisputed incident that she claimed was done on purpose by a paid fire captain who did not want her to be hired by the paid department. O'Connor said he did not hear about it until two months later and never conducted an investigation.

• Paid firefighter Jason Lombardi admitted that he texted Mansueto a picture of his penis in March 2010. O'Connor and Reiman said they did not punish him because he told them that he and Mansueto had a sexual relationship five years earlier. Reiman also refused to look at Lombardi's lewd text message when Mansueto offered to show him. "I have no interest in seeing a penis," he explained in his deposition.

• Paid firefighter Russel "Tommy" App admitted lying during an internal investigation of a previous sexual harassment claim made by Mansueto in 2004. She also said App sent her numerous "sexually inappropriate text messages" and invited her to watch pornography in the firehouse.

• She accused paid firefighter Nathaniel "Tom" Reynolds of breaking into her house after midnight to ask for oral sex. Reynolds claimed they had a consensual sexual relationship.

• Mansueto accused firefighters in the paid department of contacting people at two other workplaces where she got jobs in order to get her fired. O'Connor admitted under oath that he never called those workplaces to verify her complaints.

Mansueto denies ever having any sexual relationship with any firefighter or EMT in Carteret.

"I found it odd that the guys who were in trouble turned around and said that they slept with me. But they couldn't describe my body. I had tattoos and scars and none of them knew that," she said.

Mansueto said she didn't report some of the harassment to police because she didn't think police took her seriously when she complained about a sexual harassment incident by a firefighter in 2004.

"They didn't believe me in 2004, so who is going to believe me now? In my mind, there was no logic to going to the police. But to them, they saw no logic in not going to the police," she said.

Mansueto said she struggled as a woman who had no relatives in firefighting to fit into the all-male environment of the firehouse.

"Things are expected of you that are not expected of other rookie men. If you want the job, you just do it. It took years for that scale to start to tip. I started to lose respect for myself. Then the house fire happened."

Despite the settlement, Mansueto said she "didn't win through this situation," in part because she now is too old to apply for a paid firefighting job.

"I'm not a career firefighter," she said, "and nothing is ever going to fix that."

Staff Writer Sergio Bichao: 908-243-6615; sbichao@mycentraljersey.com