Fully updated coverage of serious allegations of Baltimore Police Department sexual discrimination, harassment, repeated lies, vicious verbal abuse, vindictiveness
The defendants in the federal lawsuit, alleging years of such treatment of a high-ranking female officer? Richard J. Worley Jr., his close friend and two other longtime male BPD brass colleagues.
Good afternoon, Baltimore.
In case you missed it — who follows all the news on weekends? — here’s some of The Baltimore Observer’s stories on allegations of years of BPD sexual discrimination, harassment, repeated lies, vicious verbal abuse and vindictiveness — by Richard Worley, one of his closest friends and two other longtime male colleagues in the BPD’s top brass.
The Sounds of Silence. City Leaders Mum On Federal Lawsuit
Despite repeated requests from The Baltimore Observer since late Friday night, none of the following have commented on the lawsuit:
Acting Baltimore Police Department (BPD) Commissioner Richard J. Worley Jr.
BPD Media Relations (beyond saying it does not comment on pending litigation)
Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott
Members of the City Council, which has already pledged to quickly confirm Worley, Scott’s nominee for the next BPD commissioner. Council members including these did not respond to requests for comment: City Council President Nick Mosby, Councilwoman Phylicia Porter and Councilman Isaac "Yitzy" Schleifer. But then the Baltimore Council is notorious for giving new meaning to the phrase “strong-mayor form of government.” It’s largely a rubber-stamp for the mayor, and has been for most of the past four decades, so it lives down to its reputation often both on legislation and as board of estiates
The Baltimore Observer’s original story from Friday night, with updates:
Lawsuit: Worley “Direct and Substantial Participant” In Baltimore Police Department’s Years of Sexual Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation Against Female Officer
Longtime Friend of Worley’s Called Her a “Bitch,” Simulated a Sexual Act in Front of Her and Repeatedly Lied About Her, Federal Suit Alleges. Mayor Scott Knew of Suit, Sources Say.
By Gary Gately
Acting Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard J. Worley Jr. was a “direct and substantial participant” in the department’s sexual discrimination, harassment and retaliation against a female officer, including one supervisor calling her a “bitch” and simulating a sexual act in front of her, according to a federal lawsuit.
The 18-page lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, comes as the City Council appears likely to confirm Mayor Brandon Scott’s nomination of Worley as the next permanent Baltimore Police Department (BPD). The 59-year-old Worley would then head a troubled BPD, critically understaffed after a mass exodus of officers over the past six years.
The suit alleges a pattern of discrimination and retaliation by Lester R. Rutherford, including repeated disciplinary actions and demotions against Officer Deanna Effland, and by three other BPD supervisors, with the full knowledge of Worley in many cases.
The BPD did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday night.
Rutherford is a longtime friend of Worley who attended the acting commissioner’s 2015 wedding and has worked with Worley part-time for the past decade as Major League Baseball investigators who determine baseball merchandise's authenticity.
The suit names as defendants Worley, who joined the BPD as a police cadet in the Western District in 1998; Rutherford and Milton Snead, both of whom supervised Effland at different times in the Northeastern District; and Dean Palmere, who had been deputy BPD commissioner during the alleged discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation against Effland.
In August 2011, while Effland was on approved medical leave, the suit alleges, Rutherford, Worley’s friend, showed up at her home unannounced not wearing his uniform and informed her that he was suspending her police powers for failing to communicate with him while on leave.
Then after five years of relentless bogus violations of department rules, the suit said, BPD supervisors demoted Effland from captain to lieutenant and transferred her to Management Services for having “communication issues” with her superiors. The suit calls that allegation, leveled by Worley and Snead, patently false.
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BPD forced out Worley’s longtime friend over female officer’s allegations
Rutherford – who appears in the suit far more than other defendants, for the most serious alleged retaliation, verbal abuse and discrimination – was forced out of the BPD in 2013 after its Equity Office (EO) found credible Effland’s claims of sexual harassment and retaliation against him.
The department moved Effland to the Communications office so she would not have to endure Rutherford’s continual harassment of her and punishing her for false allegations of violating department police, the suit allege
That marked the second EO complaint against Rutherford filed by Effland, a 29-year BPD veteran who rose through the ranks and now serves as a lieutenant in the Northeastern District. The EO concluded in the first complaint, filed in 2011, that BPD violated internal rules and regulations but not to the extent that it amounted to sexual discrimination, as defined under federal law.
Effland alleged that after she filed the first EO complaint against Rutherland, according to the federal lawsuit, he said, “I’ll really get that bitch now.”
In 2011, the suit alleges, Effland authorized overtime for other officers who had responded to a prolonged police barricade involving a BPD officer holding his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend hostage at gunpoint after she had accused the officer or rape.
Effland asked Rutherford what happened, the suit says, and he responded: “I’ll tell you what happened. He didn’t hold her head down and treat her like the bitch she is.” He then gestured as if to hold a person’s head to his genitals simulating fellatio.
Effland asked Rutherford what happened, the suit says, and he responded: “I’ll tell you what happened. He didn’t hold her head down and treat her like the bitch she is.” He then gestured as if to hold a person’s head to his genitals simulating fellatio.
When Effland sought to take approved leave in 2011, guaranteed by the union contact with the BPD, Rutherford told her, “Fuck the contract,” the suit alleges. It says he then told her it she or anyone else filed a grievance with the union, the Fraternal Order of Police, he would “find a way to fuck them.”
Until his forced retirement in the summer of 2013, Rutherford's pattern of abusive, discriminatory behavior toward Effland persisted, according to the lawsuit
BPD supervisors’ 2016 demotion of Effland from captain to lieutenant immediately reduced Effland’s salary by about $10,000.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found in July 2016 that the BPD had discriminated and retaliated against Effland in violation of federal law. The EEOC invited the BPD to participate in formal discussions with Effland’s attorney aimed at resolving the complaint amicably. But The BPD refused the invitation.
Worley to be grilled at deposition in September
Baltimore employment attorney Tonya Baña said the discrimination and retaliation continues at the BPD and Worley, who lives in Pasadena in Anne Arundel County, has been summoned to appear at a deposition with her September.
“Acting Commissioner Worley's conduct described in the complaint raises serious questions about whether he has the judgment or temperament to permanently serve as commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department,” Baña told The Baltimore Observer.
Baña – a highly regarded employment attorney and native of suburban Baltimore who attended Woodlawn High School, then Stanford Law – told The Baltimore Observer that the BPD brass’s discrimination and reprisals against Effland continue.
Scott officially nominated Worley as the city’s next police commissioner Monday night, just four days after the acting commissioner apologized profusely for his department’s absence when gunfire killed two people and wounded 28 others at Brooklyn Homes.
Mayor Scott gushes with effusive praise for Worley
“The acting commissioner is without a doubt the right person to lead the Baltimore Police Department into the future and build on the successful reforms we’ve made over the past few years,” Scott said in a statement before officially submitting his choice to the City Council.
“With his leadership and vision, we will continue to confront Baltimore’s public safety challenges, continue increasing trust in the department and continue making our communities safer.”
Without discussion, the council assigned the nomination to its Rules and Legislative Oversight Committee, which will begin its review at an August 15 hearing.
While the federal lawsuit, filed in December 2021, somehow escaped the attention of local media, Mayor Scott has known about it for months, sources told The Baltimore Observer. They requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation.
Scott, a Democrat who became mayor in December 2020, tapped Worley, then a deputy BPD commissioner, to serve as acting commissioner on June 8. That came just hours after the resignation of Commissioner Michael Harrison, without Worley ever even being interviewed for the acting chief position.
Three weeks later, the Baltimore NAACP demanded that the city conduct a nationwide search for its next police commissioner.
“It is critical that our next commissioner is appointed through a transparent process that includes community engagement and real participation,” the Rev. Kobi Little, president of the Baltimore City branch of the NAACP, said at a June 29 news conference.
Little demanded that the mayor withdraw the nomination, and conduct a national search for a new commissioner.
But Jillian Snyder, however, a faculty member at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York and a 13-year NYPD veteran, told The Baltimore Observer that big-city police departments often promote to commissioner high-ranking, longtime members of the force. The NYPD, in fact, did so for three of the last four commissioners.
“It makes a lot of sense that in turmoil for them to promote from within because that boosts trust and morale among officers,” Snyder said.
But Little, the NAACP president, noted that in Baltimore, a two-thirds Black city, many people of color do not trust the police because they have suffered at the hands of BPD officers persistent discrimination, abuse, false allegations, planting drugs on them and harassment.
“It is truly concerning that the general public, nor local community-led groups have been fully made aware of the process or how to be engaged,” Little told reporters. “This process needs to be transparent, and inclusive of community voices to attempt to repair the damages that have been done. We cannot move forward without it.”
Worley’s mea culpa at City Council hearing
A seemingly contrite Worley apologized profusely at the City Council’s July 14 hearing investigating the BPD’s failings in preventing the Brooklyn Homes tragedy, which left two dead and 28 wounded by 10 full minutes of gunfire spread over several blocks. He expressed sorrow, remorse, anger and searing regret as he acknowledged monumental failings in policing that left the South Baltimore public housing complex with no officers in sight when gunfire erupted about 12:30 a.m. on July 2.
The acting commissioner admitted the BPD’s “absolutely unacceptable breakdown in communication and judgment.” He blamed it for the department’s failure to send officers to the Brooklyn Homes annual community celebration.
”We had multiple opportunities to intervene, and we did not take them,” Worley said. “We saw that the event was happening. When we saw the crowd gathering, when we got reports there were people with weapons, we could have and should have done more.”
"I am saddened we weren't able to protect and serve. I didn't want to be on world news for something negative. I’m angry, sad and very disappointed.” — Richard J. Worley Jr., July 13 City Council hearing
BPD had received numerous 911 calls in the hours leading up to the mass shooting, reporting hundreds of mostly young people wielding guns and knives as well as the sound of gunshots.
Still, the BPD did not dispatch officers to Brooklyn Homes.
Worley pledged during the four-hour hearing that his department will apply the lessons of what went wrong in the police response to the mass shooting.
“We are going to find out what happened and fix it,” he said. “We have to see what happened here and make corrections so this never happens again.
"I am saddened we weren't able to protect and serve. I didn't want to be on world news for something negative. I’m angry, sad and very disappointed.”
City Councilwoman Phylicia Porter, whose district includes Brooklyn Homes, was unimpressed by Worley’s mea culpa. She said he and other BPD brass didn’t come close to answering questions that must be answered during the hearing.
“I know that you all took time to develop your presentations for this hearing tonight, but it is not up to the level where we need to be,” she said. “No new information was provided to me, and I’m deeply disappointed.”
Effland has some nerve. She stole thousands from the city of Baltimore with fake overtime slips and not even coming to work but getting paid. She needs to talk about that kid that died at her house in her jacuzzi. A total piece of work who did not serve the citizens of Baltimore well at all. She treated people like crap.