LOS ANGELES (CNS) – A veteran Los Angeles police detective is suing the city, alleging the department did not do enough when she complained of sexual harassment by a female supervisor, saying that she now has seen her career opportunities diminished for speaking out.
Det. Anita Stieglitz’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges sexual harassment and failure to prevent sexual harassment, and she seeks unspecified damages. A representative for the City Attorney’s Office did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit brought Wednesday.
The LAPD has a pattern of not taking seriously the sexual harassment complaints made by female officers against other female officers, in contrast to those made concerning male officers, who face punishment “disproportionately more severe,” the suit states.
Stieglitz was hired in 1996 and was promoted to her current rank of detective in 2017. Two years later, she began working sex crimes at the Mission Division, where her supervisor later became Det. Luz Montero.
In August 2022, Stieglitz reported to Montero that two female high school students told her they had been grabbed inappropriately in two places by a male pupil on campus, the suit states. In response, Montero reached out and touched Stieglitz in the same two places, asking the plaintiff if this is what she meant, according to the complaint.
Stieglitz complained to another supervisor, who took no action, according to the suit.
“As a result, plaintiff was forced to avoid Det. Montero at all costs and made sure she only spoke with … Montero when someone else was present,” the suit states.
When Stieglitz had to be around Montero, the latter “continued to look at plaintiff in a harassing manner or shunned plaintiff in a hostile manner … such that plaintiff experienced an ongoing and pervasive hostile work environment,” the suit states.
Stieglitz eventually learned from another female detective that Montero had allegedly slapped that woman on the buttocks and had also squeezed a breast of a civilian woman, then did so again when the civilian complained, the suit states.
Stieglitz, fearing retaliation, did not complain further about Montero until the plaintiff was transferred in January 2023, when she gave a report to the LAPD Professional Standards Bureau, the suit states.
Then-Chief Michel Moore ultimately gave Montero “five days as discipline for her conduct,” according to the suit, which does not further elaborate, but does state that Montero was not punished for allegedly groping Stieglitz and was allowed to remain a supervisor.
Stieglitz has suffered emotional distress and harm to her health and her chances of being promoted to coveted positions have been impaired, the suit alleges.
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