Fired Newport Officers Reinstated, Then Retire : Settlement: Police chief and captain accused of harassing 10 women get full benefits. They drop suits.

NEWPORT BEACH —  Reversing several decisions made over the past nine months, city officials on Thursday reinstated--and immediately retired--fired Police Chief Arb Campbell and Capt. Anthony Villa after agreeing to pay their legal bills in a sexual harassment suit filed by 10 current or former female employees.

In exchange, Campbell and Villa agreed to drop a wrongful termination suit they had filed against the city, waived their rights to civil service hearings they had demanded to clear their names, and vowed not to seek reinstatement to the Newport Beach Police Department.

The 16-page settlement agreement with the former police chief states that an internal city investigation produced “no corroborated evidence that Campbell sexually harassed any female employee of the department . . . (or) that Campbell condoned any specific act of misconduct on the part of any of his peers or subordinates.”

Villa’s settlement agreement included no such statement.

The sexual harassment lawsuit filed by the women last September described the 250-member Police Department as “a hotbed of sexually offensive conduct,” accused Villa of making lewd and suggestive remarks and fondling women, and said Campbell knowingly condoned Villa’s behavior.

A female police dispatcher who joined the lawsuit some weeks after it was originally filed publicly accused the two men of raping her during a drunken police party in 1981.

Campbell and Villa deny the harassment charges and that case remains pending.

Saying they were eager to put the scandal behind them and were loathe to spend more taxpayer dollars on legal battles, Mayor Clarence J. Turner and City Manager Kevin J. Murphy told reporters at a morning press conference that the wide-ranging settlement was essential to help Newport Beach “heal.”

But a leader of the local chapter of the National Organization for Women, which has staged rallies protesting the City Council’s response to the women’s charges, called the agreements “repugnant,” “outrageous” and “ludicrous.”

Lisa McLanahan, co-coordinator of the Bayview chapter of NOW, said: “We’re not going to accept this message, which is basically to say . . . (it’s) acceptable for men to get away with this behavior, and what is not acceptable is for women to say, ‘We’re tired of it. We want our right to a safe workplace.’ It’s a slap in the face to the women who filed the lawsuit and all women.”

Campbell was fired by Murphy last December, and Villa was terminated in March, after a lengthy internal investigation by the city found evidence of sexual harassment and hostility at the Police Department. In January, the City Council voted to stop paying the fees of the attorneys that Campbell and Villa had retained to contest the sexual harassment allegations.

On Thursday, city officials declined to explain the reasons for their 180-degree turnaround, saying they were limited in what they could say. Included in the agreements is a legally binding pledge that neither city officials nor Campbell and Villa will make any public comments on the matter, except in literary memoirs, in legal testimony or in response to comments made by others.

The city also agreed not to oppose disability retirements being sought by Campbell, 54, and Villa, 48, and will pay them the salary they missed between their firing and retirement dates, treating the time as paid medical leave. Campbell claims to have suffered from hypertension since 1978 and to have endured psychological stress last year. Villa hurt his neck in 1977.

If the disability retirements receive final approval, each man will annually receive, tax free, half of his final year’s salary, which for Campbell was $102,000, and for Villa, $84,000. Campbell has also accrued nearly $20,000 of additional retirement benefits he will receive each year.

Aside from the retirement packages, Murphy said the city will pay each man about $30,000 to resolve workers’ compensation claims related to the injuries they claim, and will also pay for ongoing medical treatment for those injuries.

Murphy said he believes that the men would have ultimately won comparable awards, even if the city had contested their claims.

The agreement also requires the city to pay attorneys for Campbell and Villa in the sexual harassment suit and to pay any compensatory damages assessed against them individually if the women prevail in a trial.

The city will also pay any punitive damages assessed against Campbell and Villa in the sexual harassment suit, unless the jury finds that the alleged sexual harassment was committed with malice, the agreement says.

All references to the city’s internal investigation into allegations of sexual harassment, as well as any mention of Campbell’s and Villa’s termination, will be removed from their personnel files and placed in sealed envelopes. Each will receive the certificates that entitle retired police officers to carry concealed weapons.

“It’s time to move on,” Murphy said. “We think it’s in our best interest to say ‘stop’ now, and move on.

“Today, we are making the decision to just look forward and not look back, and for this the agreement was necessary,” Murphy said. “No one is going to say there was a problem in the past or there wasn’t a problem in the past. We simply want to put the past behind us.”

In an interview Thursday afternoon, Villa sighed with relief.

“I’ve been through quite a tumultuous nine months; it’s been very stressful. I’m just glad a lot of it’s over, and we’re on the same team again,” he said. “There’s no need to be at odds. We’re all working for the same goal, which is to defend the city against these outrageous, false, unsubstantiated claims.”

In a telephone interview Thursday afternoon, Mary Jane Ruetz, a records supervisor and one of the four original plaintiffs in the sexual harassment lawsuit, said: “I don’t know how to feel. I don’t know how to interpret (the agreements). I don’t know what they’re doing, and I just don’t know how to feel about it.”

Other plaintiffs declined to comment or could not be reached.

But Beno Hernandez, a former Los Angeles police officer who helped the women file the lawsuit, accused the city of “rewarding the people who have allegedly raped and pillaged their employees.”

“If you’re a victim of sexual harassment in Newport Beach, forget it,” Hernandez said. “Their total commitment is to the protection of city management. They’re going to protect their own, and they don’t care how. . . .”

At the press conference, Turner insisted that the settlements announced Thursday do not affect the sexual harassment suit, and promised the women “due process.”

Though city officials would not explain precisely how the agreements came about, they said finances were a factor. Murphy estimated that the city would save $500,000 in legal costs by avoiding lengthy civil service and workers’ compensation hearings, as well as the costs of defending the city against the federal lawsuit filed by Campbell and Villa.

Already the city has spent about $200,000 in connection with the scandal, paying lawyers and providing cash settlements to six women who are not part of the lawsuit, but may have been sexually harassed.

Further costs will be incurred through a trial or settlement of the sexual harassment suit. The city has offered a $400,000 settlement, but the women--who originally asked for $5.5 million--rejected that offer.

“This issue clearly has been on the front burner of the city for a long, long time,” Murphy remarked. “It has diverted my personal attention from dealing with other issues in the city, and I feel very good now that I will be able to shift some of my attention to things that are a lot more productive in the long term for the city.”

Acting Police Chief Jim Jacobs said the agreements would help the Police Department concentrate on law enforcement when a new chief begins work. Murphy has interviewed four finalists for the chief’s post and expects to hire someone this month.

“Our department has been, for the last nine months, focusing on areas other that what we’re supposed to--police work,” Jacobs said. “All the issues swirling around the sexual harassment allegations have taken us away from what we should be doing, which is providing a high level of service to the citizens of Newport Beach.”

Murphy said the reinstatements were largely semantic, but Villa, who had vowed to regain his badge, on Thursday proudly rejoiced in his status.

“I’m back, employed. I’m the captain of police again,” he said. “I’m a police captain. My loyalties are now with the city.”

Over the past several months, Campbell and Villa had accused Murphy of conspiring against them, called the city’s investigation biased, and threatened to expose wrongdoing among city council members and employees.

Turner and Murphy denied that those threats had anything to do with the settlements, but Hernandez suggested that officials were fearful of more exposes.

“All they did was bow to the extortion that was forced upon them,” he charged. “(Campbell and Villa) stated publicly that they would expose improprieties and criminal misconduct of employees of the city. In order to protect that, they’re bowing to them.”

“The only way to resolve this is through a court and let the truth be known,” Hernandez said. “The management of Newport Beach is hiding the truth from the citizens.”