Three Houston, Texas top-ranking police officers face a wide array of sexual misconduct charges at the constable’s office, one of the largest in Harris County, following an explosive federal lawsuit that was filed by four female deputies against them on Monday.
Former and current deputies of the Harris County Constable’s Office Liz Gomez, Marissa Sanchez, Felecia Mckinney, and Jacqueline Aluotto, an anti-sex trafficking activist, jointly filed the bombshell 40-page civil rights lawsuit against Harris County Precinct 1 Constable Alan Rosen, Assistant Chief Chris Gore, and Lieutenant Shane Rigdon.
The lawsuit accuses the defendants of sexual harassment, sexual battery, violation of equal protection, as well as retaliation. The incidents supposedly occurred within the department’s human trafficking task force from 2019 until 2020.
According to the Daily Mail, Rosen's office would organize "bachelor party stings," in which the female deputies, who were "handpicked" for the job despite having little to no training experience in the field, would pose as prostitutes to allegedly conduct arrests on human trafficking suspects.
However, the undercover operations would become "sexually-charged" stings and a means for Gore and other high-ranking officials to prey on the female cops, sexually harassing and ridiculing them, the lawsuit alleged.
It further claimed the booze-fueled officers would subject the victims to sexual harassment, unwarranted touching, unwanted kissing, molestation, and sexual ridicule during the bogus prostitution stings.
The victims were reportedly fondled and kissed by Gore and were told to perform lap dances to other male deputies against their will.
According to Gomez, the lead plaintiff, Gore would command her to purchase skimpy clothing and send images to the chief while shopping to seek his approval, to which Gore would usually reply “that’s not slutty enough” if the dresses don't appeal to his liking, Law and Crime reported.
The female deputy would also be pressed several times to accompany Gore to an adult sex shop to acquire dildos and other sex toys. According to the complaint, on one occasion, after picking up a product called “cock sleeve,” Gore supposedly said to Gomez, “oh I bet you would like this.”
The sickening trip to the sex shops would also become an avenue for Chief Gore to remind Gomez that she was not permitted to work with any other male deputies because she was “his,” ultimately objectifying his victim.
Following several experiences in the undercover operations, Gomez asked to be discharged from the unit but it was unwillingly granted "after ridicule and denigration" from the top officials. According to the complaint, Gomez was subjected to “continuous” harassment for “not having what it takes.”
The deputy who replaced her was Marissa Sanchez, who claimed that she was also told to don revealing clothes to simulate sexual activity. She was also directed to let Gore kiss, touch, and fondle her breasts.
"As the first suspects arrived and the sting began, Chief Gore immediately took off Sanchez’s bra without warning and for no real reason. He then threw her bra across the room,' the document alleges. "While her breasts and naked body were exposed due to Chief Gore’s actions, he would continuously laugh, even after the undercover operation ended."
When Sanchez reported the alleged misconduct to Rosen, she was sent to a "less prestigious assignment."
The third deputy constable, McKinney, testified that she was assigned to one police sting at a massage parlor in 2019, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Following Gore's orders, McKinney was purportedly forced to allow being raped by a notorious sex offender, who had previously molested Constable Rosen's chief of staff, before she could order colleagues to arrest the offender.
The victims claimed that human rights advocate Jacquelyn Aluotto came forward to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office on their behalf in November 2020.
District Attorney Kim Ogg’s Office proceeded to refer the matter to the constable's office's internal investigators. The next day, Aluotto was sacked from the service.
Aluotto was told not to raise her concerns directly to Rosen because he does not want any liability over the issue, according to the lawsuit, which insists Rosen and the Harris County District Attorney's Office were made aware of the prostitution stings following alerts from a victims advocate working with the human trafficking unit.
However, Rosen and the department would turn a blind eye to the abuse.
At a Monday morning news conference, attorney Cordt Akers discussed the lawsuit and noted that Rosen ran, oversaw, and approved an “ongoing free for all.”
“Senior male deputies were given carte blanche to use young female deputies for their sexual pleasure on these operations without fear of repercussions,” he continued.
In a statement issued Monday afternoon, Rosen professed he had a zero-tolerance stance against sexual assault and sexual harassment, noting he "would never allow a hostile work environment."
It comes at the back of Friday's press conference when Rosen vowed to stand by the victims of sexual abuse, particularly the victims of another sexual predator Harris County police officer, Sergeant Robert Johnson, who confessed to committing sex crimes against children before shooting himself dead Wednesday last week.
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