DOVER, Del. (AP) - Six current and former female employees of Delaware’s largest county government have filed a federal lawsuit alleging that officials allowed a police officer to engage in sexually predatory behavior for more than two decades before he retired.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday claims that high-ranking New Castle County officials, including Police Chief Col. Vaughn Bond and County Executive Matt Meyer, turned a blind eye to Quinton Watson’s predatory behavior against female subordinates and ignored their complaints of harassment and assault.
“Defendant NCC’s tolerance of defendant Watson’s conduct created a sanctuary for sexual harassment within the NCC Police Department,” according to the complaint, which includes graphic descriptions of Watson’s alleged conduct.
Watson joined the police department in 1987 and steadily rose through the ranks, being promoted by Bond to lieutenant colonel, the second-highest position in the department, in April 2017.
According to the complaint, after Meyer became county executive in January 2017, Bond made it clear to Meyer he would accept the chief’s position only if he could promote Watson to lieutenant colonel. The complaint also alleges that Kathy Jennings, the former chief administrative officer for the county, and former police chief Jack Cunningham both advised Meyer not to promote Watson. Jennings is now Delaware’s attorney general.
Watson was placed on administrative leave in August 2018, just weeks before his age-mandated retirement, after reports about the complaints against him surfaced online.
Even though Watson was the subject of investigation by the Wilmington Police Department when he retired in December 2018, Bond submitted a letter to county court officials stating that Watson was a retired police officer “in good standing” and therefore qualified to carry a concealed deadly weapon, according to the complaint.
In addition to Meyer, Bond and Watson, former public safety director Michael Hojnicki and current chief administrative officer Vanessa Phillips are named as individual defendants in the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs include Laura O’Sullivan and Patricia Davies, who both currently hold the rank of captain in the county police department.
Spokesmen for Meyer and for the police department did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment on the lawsuit. County officials have previously defended their actions in handling complaints against Watson.
Watson’s wife told a reporter who tried to reach him by phone for comment not to call again.
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