Memo Offers Glimpse into Police Harassment Complaint

Montville Patch has obtained a memo that provides details about the lodged against Montville Police Lt. Leonard Bunnell by Officer Karen Moorehead.

The Oct. 28, 2011 memo is from Moorehead to the Town of Montville.

"This is the follow up written complaint regarding the threatening and harassment that I have been subject to over the past 10 or so months," Moorehead writes in the memo. "Over this time period I have been singled out, treated unfairly and Lt. Bunnell has made comments about my breasts."

The memo alleges a "pattern and practice of continuous and overt harassment and disparate treatment" by Bunnell.

Moorhead writes in the memo that she made a verbal complaint on Oct. 19, and asked that Bunnell "stay away from me."

In the complaint, Moorehead says that then-Mayor Joe Jaskiewicz and Resident State Trooper Sgt. Troy Gelinas ordered Bunnell to stay away from her.

"The next morning," Moorhead writes in the memo, "Bunnell decided to question if I had outstanding reports."

Bunnell, she charges, was again told "to have no contact with me but upon me leaving the Police Department on Oct. 21 he yelled in an (intimidating) manner, 'Goodnight Karen.'"

She says in the memo that "both of these incidents were witnessed by multiple people."

Asked this week about the memo, Moorehead said, "I'm hopeful that the town will complete their investigation in a timely manner and the truth will come out."

She refused further comment, and directed questions to her attorney.

Moorehead, who is the School Resource Officer at Montville High School, has refused to speak about the original complaint, which has yet to be released in spite of Freedom of Information requests by Montville Patch and The Day.

Mayor Ron McDaniel, commenting on the memo, said that allegations of workplace harassment that launched the initial investigation involved "some things beyond the scope of what our internal people could handle." That is why the town engaged the law firm of Suisman Shapiro to investigate, he said.

Asked about the seven months that it's taken to investigate the charges, McDaniel said that new information had arisen in early May that he wanted addressed, and he asked the attorney to add that new information into the investigation and report.

In addition, he said, the police union has recently been without representation, and he could not begin to talk with Bunnell or Moorehead without a union attorney present.

As mayor, McDaniel is the head of the police department.

Gelinas had no comment; Bunnell could not be reached.