Suit Accuses Vicari Of Decades Of Sexual Harassment Of Employee

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Ocean County Commissioner Joseph H. Vicari is accused of harassing and sexually assaulting and harassing an employee for more than two decades in a lawsuit filed in federal court.

The lawsuit, which was filed in May, alleges Vicari subjected the woman to groping, sexual assault and persistent sexual harassment, cornering her in offices to rub up against her or assault her, over the majority of her 23 years working for the county. Much of that time has been in the Division of Senior Services. Vicari is the liaison to the division in his role as a commissioner.

Albert H. Wunsch III of Englewood Cliffs, who is representing Vicari, a county freeholder (now commissioner) since 1981, called the allegations "ridiculous" and "patent lies."

"It's ridiculous to think anyone would have withstood that kind of sexual assault case for that long," Wunsch said. "There is no way a professional woman in this world would have tolerated that kind of treatment and said nothing to anyone" for nearly two decades.

"I'm not in the business of victim shaming, but this is an educated woman who has done very well for herself," Wunsch said.

Wunsch said the woman was using a prior sexual harassment lawsuit, filed in 2014 against the county that accused Vicari of enabling sexual harassment of another employee, as "the stepping stone" for this lawsuit.

The county settled that lawsuit for $550,000 in what officials called a "business deal." Vicari and county officials made no admissions of wrongdoing in the settlement.

That lawsuit was about "his inactions with regard to others," Wunsch said. "My client is innocent. He is a hardworking public official. He will be completely vindicated by the time this litigation is over."

The current lawsuit also names Ocean County and commissioners Virginia Haines and Barbara Jo Crea, alleging they did nothing to address it and blocked a transfer she requested, in retaliation for the woman reporting Vicari's behavior to the county's director of employee relations.

Ocean County officials declined to comment: "Please be advised that as this matter is currently the subject of pending litigation there will be no comment from the County," county counsel John Sahradnik said.

The lawsuit, which details more than a dozen incidents, says the woman reported the assaults and harassment, which she says began in 2003, to Ocean County's human resources officials in 2017 and again in 2019. It says it wasn't until earlier this year that Vicari was told to stay away from her and she was told to stay out of the county administration building without an escort.

The woman alleges Vicari repeatedly insinuated over the years that her job would be in jeopardy if she reported the harassment and groping. At one point he told her she was denied a promotion because he blocked it after she refused his advances, the lawsuit alleges.

The incidents included Vicari making passes at her in offices, blocking her path so she couldn't move, and then "he would rub into the Plaintiff's breasts."

He repeatedly asked her to bring Senior Services documents to his office and would close the door behind her, leading to rumors in the office later that she was having an affair with Vicari and got a promotion and a significant raise because of it.

"Plaintiff was NEVER romantically or sexually involved with Defendant Joseph Vicari," the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit alleges that after the promotion, Vicari called her "at all hours of the night" asking her to do extra work, showed up at various events where she was speaking to seniors about Medicare — referring to her with a title that she didn't have, which aggravated her direct supervisor.

Vicari also would sit next to her at monthly meetings and put his hand on her thigh under the table, the lawsuit alleges. She would not wear skirts to work because of the harassment, the lawsuit says.

In another incident, the lawsuit alleges, Vicari's wife was out of town and he demanded the woman bring Senior Services documents to his home. When she tried to leave, telling Vicari she needed to get back to the office, Vicari "reminded Plaintiff that HE WAS THE BOSS and the office could wait," and proceeded to grope her.

The woman agreed in May 2011 to a transfer to another department, but the harassment did not stop, as Vicari would wander into her office and would grope her breasts, the lawsuit says. It became so unbearable she took a three-month leave in early 2012, according to the document.

In December 2013 she applied to become the director of Senior Services but did not receive the job. She alleges that afterward Vicari told her, "You didn't get the job because of me."

In 2017, she told Keith Goetting, head of the county's human resources department, that Vicari was harassing her.

"Despite this complaint, no investigation was conducted and no action was taken" by the county, the lawsuit said. The harassment and groping continued at multiple events, she alleges.

In November 2017, she changed jobs and began working in a different county building, but says Vicari sought her out there and again made unwanted advances.

At an August 2018 event with then-Congressman Tom MacArthur, Vicari told the woman "he could really make her happy" and "her breasts were beautiful," and then proceeded to rub up against her, the lawsuit alleges.

In May 2019 when the Ocean County Southern Service Center Nutrition site was set for its opening, Vicari arrived early and assaulted her, the lawsuit alleges.

In 2021 after yet another incident, Vicari called her cell phone and the woman told him to stop harassing her, saying she was getting married, to which Vicari said, "nobody will make you as happy as I did."

She again reported the harassment to Robert A. Greitz, director of employee relations, and met with him and Patricia Burke, a personnel specialist, on multiple occasions, recounting multiple incidents. Finally, Vicari was told to stay away from her, and the woman was told not to enter the Ocean County Administration Building without an escort.

She sought a transfer back to the Senior Services division but was denied, which she alleges was retaliation for reporting the harassment by Vicari.

In September 2021, Crea, who was not yet elected to the Board of Commissioners, saw the woman at an event and asked why she was no longer working with Senior Services, and the woman told her about the sexual harassment. Five months later, after Crea was elected to the board, Crea asked her to keep the conversations to herself, the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.