Police Chief: Mendham Twp. Officials Sexually Harassed Me

The top cop in Mendham Township claims he’s been subjected to adverse working conditions and has been sexually harassed by township officials for more than three years.

According to dailyrecord.com, Police Chief Steven Crawford, 47, has filed a notice of intent to sue the township, claiming elected officials, appointed officials, and other employees “unlawfully and wrongfully harassed Crawford by making inappropriate statements to him concerning such matters as Crawford’s age, physique, out-of-office personal and family relationships, sexuality, sexual orientation, size of his genitals, morals and reputation,” among other remarks.

Crawford’s notice, according to the report, says he’s been sexually harassed since 2012, and had a bad working environment since last summer when he held a press conference regarding an officer’s suit against the department and township.

That press conference came on the heels of a suit filed by Officer Robert Wysokowski who claimed he was passed over for promotions as a result of not reaching ticket quotas by profiling younger drivers. Wysokowski claimed his superiors, namely Crawford both before he became chief in 2009 and currently, was behind the profiling requests.

That suit has not yet been settled and is being investigated by the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office.

The claim by Crawford goes on to say committee members Samuel Tolley and Maribeth Thomas, along with former committeeman Richard Merkt and former Township Administrator Amey Upchurch plotted against the chief to sully his reputation, the report said.

“It is odd that the Chief never mentioned any complaint about sexual harassment to me, although I served on the Township Committee from early 2011 until September 2014,” said Merkt in an email to Patch. “Not even a hint. Nor am I aware of the Chief complaining to anyone else on the Township Committee, so his complaint appears to be of recent vintage.

“Unfortunately, Chief Crawford took it upon himself to stage a self-serving press conference concerning a pending litigation against the Township without notice to or approval from the Mayor or any other elected official,” Merkt continued. “The governing body was understandably unhappy about being “blindsided” in this manner by their employee. So, if the relationship between the Chief and the elected officials was strained at that time, it was clearly due to the Chief’s own actions.”

Committeeman Frank Cioppetini would not comment on the issue. Mayor Chris Baumann and Thomas could not be immediately reached for comment.

Pictured: Steven Crawford at a press conference in 2014. Patch File Photo