Here's How Much Money EH Taxpayers Paid Defending Maturo, Town

EAST HAVEN, CT — Earlier this month Mayor Joseph Maturo Jr. and lawyers representing former town employee, Francine Carbone, agreed to a settlement where Carbone received $175,000 and medical benefits for her and her husband until they turn 65-years-old.

East Haven taxpayers are paying that $175,000 figure. Now comes word via the New Haven Register that public dollars totalling $171,600 were paid to help defend Maturo and the town against Carbone's allegations. The Register received that figure after filing a Freedom of Information request with the town.

The court case went on for four years between the town and Carbone. Maturo blasted the Register's report, calling it "fake news," according to the Register.

The law firm of Lynch, Traub, Keefe & Errante received in excess of $70,000 for representing Maturo, while the town's legal counsel, Loughlin Fitzgerald, billed more than $97,000, the Register reports.

In 2015, former Town Hall secretary Carbone filed a lawsuit, claiming she faced a continual pattern of harassment from Maturo, including inappropriate remarks and obscene gestures, since her employment began in January 1997. During one incident in 2013, Carbone claims Maturo exposed himself in her office.

From Jan. 25, 1997, to Oct. 17, 2014, Carbone was employed by the town. In October of 2014 she was fired.

According to the lawsuit, Maturo continually made comments regarding Carbone's body.
The complaint also alleges that Maturo grabbed his crotch in front of Carbone and in front of a town official.

The incident that Carbone first made involved Maturo allegedly exposing himself to her while she bent down to file documents in a cabinet. Carbone alleges that Maturo's behavior made her working conditions "intolerable," causing "severe emotional distress.

Carbone also filed a Family Medical Leave Act lawsuit, alleging the Maturo administration retaliated against her for taking medical leave. She lost that case.

Recently, a second East Haven resident told Patch that she, too, had continually been sexually harassed by Maturo. Roxanne Melillo, who ran on a ticket with Maturo in 2011, said she was continually harassed by Maturo.

>>>Read the New Haven Register's full story on the breakdown of legal fee costs to defend Maturo and the town here.

With reporting by Patch Correspondent Jack Kramer