Mountainside Settles $2.45M Lawsuit Over Dildo Harassment

MOUNTAINSIDE, NJ — Mountainside settled a $2.45 million lawsuit filed by five borough police officers and a dispatcher alleging a hostile work environment that included being harassed with a dildo.

The council passed the resolution at its Sept. 15 meeting agreeing to the settlement to avoid any further legal costs. Councilman Rene Dierkes was the only no vote.

"The governing body is very much aware that in litigation there is never a guarantee of outcome regardless of how confident we might be that the borough would ultimately prevail in the lawsuit," according to the resolution.

The settlement money will be paid through the borough's insurance company with no taxpayer funds needed.

The 46-page lawsuit was filed in May 2018 by Christopher Feighner, Richard Latargia, Thomas Norton, Jeffrey Stinner, and James Urban, as well as a part-time employee, Amy Colineri. It alleges the department was a "hostile work environment" in which Mountainside Police Officers Andrew Huber and Thomas Murphy would throw around sex toys, abuse people in sexual ways, and expose themselves. Read More: NJ 'Cop Of The Year' Harassed Coworkers With Dildo: Lawsuit

Police Chief Allan Attanasio was also accused of being aware of the behavior and not stopping it. Attanasio along with Huber and Murphy were all placed on paid leave days after the lawsuit was filed. Read More: Mountainside Police Chief Put On Leave After Explosive Lawsuit

According to the lawsuit, Huber had a dildo he named "Big Blue" that he kept in a filing cabinet. Huber would wave it around and throw it at people, the lawsuit alleges. It further states that the chief at the time, James Debbie, knew of this activity and took no corrective action.

In May 2016, Huber allegedly chased Mountainside Fire Chief Anthony Pecorelli around police headquarters with Big Blue; Police Chief Allan Attanasio shouted "get him" and "put it in his mouth" while Murphy recorded it, according to the lawsuit.

A video of Huber smacking a dispatcher with the dildo was obtained by NJ.com. You can see it here.

The lawsuit claims Murphy would ram his flashlight in other officers' rear areas, and that he also exposed his testicles, even putting them on other officers' food and drinks. He would take photographs of his testicles on other people's objects in the department, the lawsuit says.

Murphy also allegedly made inappropriate comments to Colineri, including that he wanted to impregnate her and that he could "help" her have a baby, according to the complaint. In another instance, he allegedly asked her where she lived so he could look in her windows. He made repeated comments about wanting to see her in a bathing suit, the complaint says.

The inappropriate conduct went beyond crude sexual behaviors, according to the lawsuit.

In 2011, Huber and then-Lt. Chief Allan Attanasio, made a false report of an "officer in need of assistance" in which they claimed a Mountainside Police Officer was trapped and cornered in the basement of a Scotch Plains bar. When Berkeley Heights Police arrived, Huber used his universal key to unlock and steal the police car.

Mountainside Police administration was made aware of that incident, but nothing was done to either Huber or Attanasio, the complaint states.

Further, until about 2013, Huber allegedly forwarded pornographic, racial and racist emails from his Mountainside Police Department email account to other department officers, including current chief Attanasio, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit goes on to say that "corruption is strongly rooted in Mountainside and internal complaints to the mayor, borough council and administrator would not be effectively and appropriately addressed."

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