Former fire captain loses pension benefits
A former Baltimore County fire captain who was terminated after an investigation found he sexually harassed subordinates and created a hostile work environment won’t be able to collect his pension.
The Maryland Court of Special Appeals ruled Thursday against Theodore C. Priester Jr., who was appealing the county’s denial of his pension benefits.
Priester had worked in the fire department since 1982 and was in charge of Station 18 in Randallstown when he was terminated in 2013 after an investigation found he violated department policies, including the county’s sexual harassment policy, the opinion said
Priester’s application for pension benefits was later denied by the Board of Trustees of the county’s Employees’ Retirement System because he had not offered “honorable and faithful service as an employee,” which is required by the county code. The Court of Special Appeals affirmed the board’s decision.
“Simply put, a reasoning mind could conclude that a fire officer’s service was not honorable or faithful if he was found, over the course of several years, to have abused his authority by violating the rules that he was obligated to enforce and sexually harassing subordinates, who were unable to complain precisely because of his position of authority,” the court’s opinion said.
Priester’s attorney, John M. Singleton, said his client denied the allegations. Singleton also said he is unaware of any other cases in Maryland or across the country where a worker lost their pension without being convicted on criminal charges or held responsible in a civil case.
An emergency medical technician who worked for Priester said he would “periodically approach her from behind while she was washing dishes or working at a computer, and would ‘nibble’ on her neck and ear, use crude language to tell her that he thought that she was sexually aroused, and make other lewd and sexually suggestive comments,” according to her testimony given during an appeal to the trustees’ decision before the Baltimore County Office of Administrative Hearings in 2015.
Priester expressed regret at a hearing before the department’s Administrative Hearing Board in April 2013 in a letter that referred to the “horseplay, hazing, practical jokes, and basic clowning around of the ‘old fire department.’ ”