Second gay worker sues city

Though the city of Huntington Beach has settled one lawsuit by a gay police officer alleging harassment by his fellow employees because of his sexual orientation, a new suit featuring similar accusations looms.

Catherine Denise Cranford, 39, of Temecula — a former city jailer who was in the closet about her homosexuality — is suing the city and police department, alleging that her peers harassed her with rumors of her sexual orientation.

According to the suit, city workers then passed on her confidential medical history — including personal information told to a psychiatrist — to other employees of the Huntington Beach Police Department.

Cranford — who resigned from the department in April — heard dispatchers talking about her sexual orientation in 2005, according to the lawsuit. Though she wanted to file a complaint, a coworker told her not to “play the gay card,” the lawsuit says. The suit alleges that a jail employee, named in the suit, harassed her from then until April 2007, when Cranford left on stress leave.

Some of the allegations were similar to those made by Adam Bereki, 29, who recently won a lump sum of $150,000 to end his harassment suit as part of a settlement voted on by the City Council in April. In addition, he will receive a $4,000-per-month disability payment for the rest of his life from officer retirement funds, which could ultimately add up to $2 million or more over a lifetime.

Bereki joined Huntington Beach police in 2001, but rumors that he was gay didn’t surface until a year later, according to the suit. From then through 2007, he was “subjected to disparaging and harassing comments and conduct regarding his sexuality,” according to the lawsuit.

When Police Chief Kenneth Small first heard the claims about Bereki, he immediately launched an internal affairs investigation conducted by an outside group, Lt. Dave Bunetta said. He said he couldn’t comment on Cranford because it was an ongoing lawsuit.

“If it’s brought to the attention of the chief or anyone in the department, we will actively investigate any allegation,” he said. “Harassment in the workplace is not tolerated by the chief or the police department, and we will take appropriate action based on the findings of an internal investigation.”

The findings of the investigation are confidential by law, Bunetta said. No one was placed on leave during the probe, he added.

Cranford’s suit isn’t asking for a specific dollar amount so far, according to her lawyer, J. Bernard Alexander, III. But he said the timing of Bereki’s lawsuit suggested there wasn’t much welcome for different sexual orientations in the police department.

“The timing of this conduct suggests an unwelcomeness of people who are non-heterosexual inside the workplace,” Alexander said. “With my client, how difficult would it have been to call people having these discussions and say ‘Look, this is inappropriate?’”

Worse than harassment was the disclosure of medical information, Alexander said. According to the suit, after Cranford took time off for the stress of a hostile work environment, she had officers coming to her door to investigate her workers’ compensation claim who knew far more of her medical history than was relevant.

“It shouldn’t have been released,” Alexander said. “It was completely unwarranted. It gives the impression someone wanted to get rid of her and was using the pretext of an investigation to do that.”

He added that even if it weren’t intentional, such an act was negligence that deserved a lawsuit.

While Bereki declined comment for the suit, his lawyer, James Traut, said Bereki was subjected to a constant barrage of harassment.

Some of that alleged conduct includes being told he would make “a great cross-dresser;” an officer simulating anal sex on him during training as supervisors watched and being asked if a visit to the doctor was about his “HIV kicking in,” according to the suit.

Bereki complained three times to superiors including Small, the suit states. While an internal affairs investigation was launched, no one was punished or reprimanded, according to the suit.

“He did everything he could to alert the superiors,” Traut said. “They say, ‘Well, we investigated,’ but they didn’t do anything about it. Nobody got reprimanded. The behavior continued.”

All department employees get anti-harassment training, with extra classes every two years for supervisors, Bunetta said. In addition, all officers must discuss the guidelines at their annual evaluations, he added.

“We would like to say that as soon as it came to the chief’s attention regarding the allegations [about Bereki], the chief took immediate action to initiate an investigation and to ensure there were no issues or problems regarding that employee as long as he was with the police department,” Bunetta said.

MICHAEL ALEXANDER may be reached at (714) 966-4618 or at michael.alexander@ latimes.com.