Claudia Melendez Salinas and Virginia Hennessey
8/17/09
Seaside Police Chief Stephen Cercone asked prosecutors to conduct an investigation into potential criminal conduct in his department before he was recently placed on administrative leave, District Attorney Dean Flippo confirmed Friday.
Flippo would not comment on the nature of the investigation or whether it involves three other officers in the department who were placed on administrative leave before Cercone, who was relieved of duty Monday.
Numerous sources identified those officers as Deputy Chief Louis Lumpkin, Cmdr. Mike Kimball and Sgt. Barry Pasquarosa.
Through his former attorney, Pasquarosa confirmed Friday that he was placed on leave Aug. 7 and was told the action was related to a previous claim of sexual harassment by city employee Vanessa Alcaraz.
However, Pasquarosa’s current attorney, Peter Hoffmann of Pleasanton, said he and his client have been “kept in the dark” regarding the reasons for the city’s action and he has no indication it is related to a criminal investigation.
Alcaraz did not return messages left at her home and work requesting comment Friday. Reached at his home, Pasquarosa declined comment.
Cercone was replaced Tuesday by interim Police Chief Stephen Willis, who was contacted last week by city officials about the open-ended assignment.
City Attorney Don Freeman referred questions about all administrative leaves to attorney Rick Bolanos of the San Francisco law firm Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, which represents the city on personnel issues.
In 2008, Bolanos filed a request for a temporary restraining order against Pasquarosa in relation to a sexual harassment claim by Alcaraz, a code enforcement officer.
The city was granted a temporary restraining order against Pasquarosa in October 2008, and he was placed on administrative leave. Bolanos and attorney Andy Swartz, who represented Pasquarosa at the time, said Friday the city withdrew its request for a permanent injunction after an administrative action was taken by the police department.
Both attorneys declined to discuss the nature of that action, taken in October or November 2008. Swartz said Pasquarosa returned to work after being cleared of wrongdoing by the department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Swartz said Pasquarosa was “astounded” Friday at any suggestion that the matter could be linked to a criminal investigation or the disciplinary actions against Lumpkin and Kimball.
Pasquarosa told Swartz the other two officers were placed on leave before him. He said he does not know the reason for the actions against them or the chief.
Bolanos said he “cannot confirm or deny” that the actions are related to the Alcaraz case.
According to court records, Pasquarosa was placed on leave Oct. 14, 2008, after he allegedly contacted Alcaraz in spite of a letter from the city dated Oct. 10 asking him not to contact her. The city applied for a temporary restraining order Oct. 22. It is unclear when Pasquarosa, a 30-year veteran of the department, returned to work.
Alcaraz’s claims are laid out in a declaration filed in support of the restraining order, which was allowed to lapse in December 2008. She said she met Pasquarosa soon after she was hired as a code enforcement officer on Feb. 10, 2007. He immediately began sending inappropriate e-mails and text messages to her at work, she said.
When she entered the police academy later that year, he began showing up at the academy every weekend, and when she confronted him, he began showing up every two weeks, she said.
City sergeants observed Pasquarosa parked on her street on numerous occasions dating to 2007, Alcaraz said. Her brothers also reported seeing Pasquarosa parked near her Seaside home numerous times.
Alcaraz applied to become a reserve officer in March 2008. Pasquarosa then volunteered as a sergeant for the training program, and told Alcaraz he was the only one “who would help me get the position as reserve officer,” she said.
“Because of Mr. Pasquarosa’s involvement in the training program, I was afraid to confront him regarding his inappropriate behavior towards me,” the declaration said. “I was afraid of what Mr. Pasquarosa might do if I made him angry or became confrontational with him. I didn’t want to lose my job or hurt my chances of becoming a reserve officer.”
Alcaraz said she was “terrified” that Pasquarosa would continue to contact her or follow her.
“I also fear that Mr. Pasquarosa is a persistent and unpredictable person, and that he would likely come to the city offices or worksites to retaliate against me or other co-workers.”
In response to the city’s petition for a restraining order, Pasquarosa’s attorney, Swartz, declared no assault or battery had been alleged by Alcaraz, and there was no evidence of threats or stalking.
“Each of the alleged incidents are either explained by Officer Pasquarosa as acting in the course of his duties or contradicted by Ms. Alcaraz’s written expressions of friendship and encouragement to continue the friendship,” he wrote.
In his declaration, Pasquarosa denied harassing Alcaraz and said her allegations were threatening his livelihood. He said Alcaraz began building a friendship soon after she was hired and that he believed “we were confidantes (sic) and that I was her mentor, someone to whom she could and did confide.”
Pasquarosa said he and Alcaraz coached a Police Athletic League soccer team together, and that she gave him the nickname “Sadekee,” which she said meant friendship in Lebanese.
Documents provided by Pasquarosa to accompany his court declaration showed the two exchanged friendly e-mails at least until June 2007. Alcaraz described Pasquarosa as somebody “wonderful, admirable, caring, and respectable.” She described him as a special person, and referred to their relationship as a “beautiful friendship.”
Alcaraz is 30. Pasquarosa is 52.
“Sgt. Pasquarosa felt every word in his declaration was absolutely 100 percent true,” Swartz said.
Hoffmann, Pasquarosa’s current attorney, said he has not been contacted by the District Attorney’s Office and was unaware that Chief Cercone had been placed on leave.
