NCJ - Stoen/sexual harassment

Stoen has no history of
sexual harassment, bosses say
Gallegos and Vroman not aware of any complaints
by EMILY GURNON

Assistant District Attorney Tim Stoen's current and former bosses both said Tuesday that he has no history of sexual harassment complaints against him.

When asked if he had ever heard of other individuals expressing such concerns, either in Stoen's current or former jobs, District Attorney Paul Gallegos said, "Absolutely not."

Mendocino County DA Norm Vroman served as Stoen's supervisor for "two or three years" and said he's known him for 25 years.

"Tim Stoen doesn't possess the type of personality that would do something like that," Vroman said. "He's a very thoughtful, caring person, and I've never known him to be uncircumspect in his comments to either males or females. But when you're in a public office, you're fair game for everyone."

Stoen, 66, is reportedly under investigation following a sexual harassment complaint by a woman in the DA's office.

Stoen found out May 18 that an unnamed person in the office had made "unspecified charges" against him, he said Monday in a written statement to the press.

A May 28 article in the Times-Standard quoted Supervisor Jill Geist as saying that Stoen was being investigated and that he was on leave from his job.

"I have never been on leave. I have never been asked to be on leave," Stoen said in his statement. He also said that there is no truth to the allegations.

He said that the county's personnel director "suggested to me that it might be `in your own interest' not to work inside the office for a few days `to avoid being set up.'

"Although I had to continue working in the office to have access to files, I chose to do as much work as possible at home as a matter of prudence. It was totally my choice," Stoen wrote.

Geist said Tuesday, "If I used the wrong term, my apologies. My understanding was that he was not in the office."

Stoen also excoriated the Times-Standard for printing further details from unnamed sources.

"You have no right to defame people through anonymous sources," he said.

Gallegos said Tuesday that he could "neither confirm nor deny" the existence of an investigation, but he confirmed that Stoen is not on leave.

In general, Gallegos said, his policy is to take any allegation seriously. "If concerns are expressed to us, then we feel it warrants attention." County policy provides for the Board of Supervisors to handle any investigation, but the DA's preference is to have a "neutral outsider" do the inquiry, Gallegos said.

At the same time, he said, the existence of an investigation "is not necessarily an indication of any sort of grievous conduct on anyone's part."

In recent e-mails to the Journal, Stoen's supporters have suggested that the charge against him is suspicious for its proximity to the failure of the DA recall attempt and the failure of the effort by Pacific Lumber Co. to have the DA's fraud case against the company thrown out of court. The assistant DA is the chief litigator on the Pacific Lumber case.

Stoen himself, who declined to talk to the Journal on Tuesday, alluded to the suspicions in his written statement.

" the possibility of a set-up is hardly far fetched," he wrote. He said that Geist was quoted as saying that a supervisor had initiated the investigation. "One wonders who that might be."