Article Summary: Officer Scott sought the help of her union, when the unthinkable occurred on May 15, 1996, the day she had to answer the DOC charges at the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH).  COBA President Seabrook told her to come to his office before she went to OATH, Officer Scott recalls. She said once in his office he closed the door and started complimenting her physical appearance and how much he liked her lips.  “I told him to stay focused, but he kept talking about noticing me in the jail and asking to come to my house for dinner,” she said, in the interview. “Here I was a victim of a crime; a supervisor writes me up on bogus charges, and then I’m being sexually assaulted by the union president.”

City Employee’s Sex Harass Charges Was Buried
The Scandal At Correction Series Continues: Part 1 of 2
By Donald Winkfield

New York’s City council has been rocked by allegations against council members accused by staffers of sexual harassment. Mayor Bloomberg has publicly complained about the slow pace of the Council’s investigation of allegations against one of the council members, Alan Jennings—the probe has lasted several months. (Separately, council member Vincent Gentile has been accused of sexual harassment by a male staffer).

What about the case of a City employee whose case has been under investigation for eight years? Her case may have been stymied due to the powerful political connections of a union chief.

So far, four African American women have complained about Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association (COBA) President Norman Seabrook’s sexual conduct.  There’s no telling how many more complaints have not reached the surface, but I’m told, there are more. Seabrook hasn’t responded to my queries to him about the allegations and cases.

In one case the alleged victim’s complaints filed with watchdog agencies i.e., Commission for Human Rights (CHR), and Department of Investigation (DOI) seem to have been disregarded and tied up for years.  How can someone expect to control corruption or this type of behavior, when complaints are not answered in a timely fashion?

Correction Officer Collette Uniqué Jacqués-Scott is in her 20th year of service with the city’s Department of Correction (DOC).  In 1995, early in the morning outside of her home, she became a victim of a crime when she was preparing to go to work.  She had just placed her two little daughters in the backseat of the car when two gunmen approached to rob her.

 “I closed the door and started running away to get them away from my daughters, but one of them just stood there pointing the gun at my daughters,” Officer Scott recalled in an interview with The Black Star. “I stopped running and returned to the car.”  There were no witnesses out that early and the gunmen took off with her handbag and money.  No one was injured and the two perpetrators were never apprehended.

A few days later, Officer Scott returned to work.  Still worrying about her daughters, she telephoned the babysitter to see how they were doing. A male supervisor at her work also wanted to use the telephone and told her to end her call. “Words were exchanged and I was accused of disrespecting the supervisor,” stated Officer Scott – who was later, brought up on DOC departmental charges.

Officer Scott sought the help of her union, when the unthinkable occurred on May 15, 1996, the day she had to answer the DOC charges at the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH).  COBA President Seabrook told her to come to his office before she went to OATH, Officer Scott recalls. She said once in his office he closed the door and started complimenting her physical appearance and how much he liked her lips.  “I told him to stay focused, but he kept talking about noticing me in the jail and asking to come to my house for dinner,” she said, in the interview. “Here I was a victim of a crime; a supervisor writes me up on bogus charges, and then I’m being sexually assaulted by the union president.”

Scott quickly got the impression Seabrook lured her to his office under false pretenses.  “He knew I was going through a divorce and tried to capitalize on the situation.  He must have thought I was vulnerable or dumb if he thought I would come to his office and have sex with him in exchange for union help.  He’s nothing but a sexual predator who preys on women,” stated Office Scott.

Seabrook told her to change into her uniform in his office before she went to OATH while he watched, she said.  “I got up to put my papers back in the brief case; he grabbed me and shoved his tongue down my throat.  I made enough noise that brought a female executive board member into the office.”

Ironically, the day before the alleged incident, former Commissioner Michael P. Jacobson, put out a department wide policy on the “Prevention of Sexual Harassment in the Department of Correction.”  The very next day, union chief Seabrook trespasses against that policy.

Seabrook got wind of Officer Scott’s intention to file a sexual assault charges against him.  She said he then had the DOC’s charges at OATH against her arising from the confrontation about the telephone remanded to the command level in the DOC; the charges were administratively filed and Officer Scott appeared to have been taken off the hook. This act alone exposes how OATH’s cases can be tampered with or abused.

The DOC’s Equal Employment Opportunity Office (EEOO) headed by Louis R. Burgos Jr., Deputy Commissioner, was supposed to “assist in implementing the sexual harassment policy.” His office seemed to have looked the other way finding, “No probable cause” in many sexual harassment cases reported to EEOO.

Officer Scott’s 1996 case apparently was not Seabrook’s first.  Correction Officer Theresa Braxton, then COBA’s third vice president, has complained of being sexually harassed by Seabrook.  Separately, a civilian COBA employee, Sharon Tonge, hired by Seabrook to work in the COBA office, filed a Federal Court sexual harassment lawsuit against Seabrook in 1996 – settling the case for what’s believed to be a million dollars in March 1997. Seabrook has declined to address that case. Court papers show yet another female civilian COBA employee complaining about being sexually harassed by Seabrook—She could not be reached for comment.

These complaints should have sparked some kind of investigation of COBA’s office.  Clearly if not by the DOC, the District Attorney’s (DA) office should have dealt with Seabrook’s sexual conduct because it’s a crime against women and the law.

Not one or two complaints, four or more complaint have been filed.  Court papers show Seabrook’s sexual acts, did rise to the level of, “Conduct unbecoming of an officer.”  However, there were no departmental charges relating to any of the sexual harassment complaints filed against Seabrook.

It makes you ask yourself, how can someone break laws and trespass against peoples’ rights and not be held accountable for his actions? Are our public officials that blind, or do endorsements really get in the way of their office and justice?

“No, I don’t know anything about it,” stated DOC spokesman Thomas Antenen when contacted about Scott’s case. He sounded surprised to learn that the CHR could still be investigating Officer Scott’s sexual assault complaint eight years later. “She filed a lawsuit in 1996 and it’s 2004 and there’s been no closure on the matter yet?  That’s a little odd…” he added. It was hard to believe the DOC’s spokesperson did not know anything about Seabrook’s sexual conduct after Officer Scott’s complaint and Sharon Tonge’s lawsuit.

COBA spokesperson Michele Buongiovanni, declined to comment. She did not keep her word to return my call before press time.

CHR Assistant Commissioner Avery S. Mehlman said he could not comment on Scott’s case because it’s still under investigation. CHR is doing “a full and thorough investigation” which may take a little longer. Yet many DOC members involved in the scandal at correction are still walking around free as a bird.