Sexual harassment claim against retired CPD cop will cost taxpayers $300,000
Chicago taxpayers will spend $300,000 to compensate a police officer who claims she had sex with a boss who threatened to torpedo her career if she refused his advances.
The $300,000 settlement goes to Chicago Police Officer Kelly Hespe, who remains on leave.
Her now-6-year-old sexual misconduct lawsuit against retired Chicago Police Lt. Gerald Breimon lifted the veil on a sordid array of alleged sex-capades involving Breimon and his former colleagues at the Shakespeare District that covers Wicker Park and Bucktown.
Those allegations include: sex between cops during work hours; sex acts in squad cars; a police officer masturbating in his squad car; and married cops having foursomes with other cop couples during their off-duty hours.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported in August 2018 that it’s all laid out in lengthy depositions taken by city attorneys who have defended Breimon against Hespe’s sex claims.
Breimon, who retired last summer, was once indicted on aggravated sexual assault and official misconduct charges after being accused of pulling over a young woman, ordering her out of the car, frisking her under her clothing and touching her breasts and vagina.
He was stripped of his police powers and placed on desk duty, where he remained for nearly five years until the woman dropped her lawsuit and prosecutors dropped the charges.
He was reinstated without punishment and assigned to the Shakespeare District in 2008.
About a year later, Breimon, who was married, began having sex with Hespe, a subordinate whose husband also was a Chicago cop, court records show.
Hespe says in court records they had sex in squad cars, in the station house and in the police parking lot and that, when she tried to break things off, Breimon threatened to use his mother’s connections to ruin Hespe’s career.
In his deposition, Breimon insisted the sexual relationship was consensual and said he had no supervisory authority over her.
Hespe went on medical leave in March 2013, later seeking disability payments, saying she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder because of her treatment by Breimon. Her disability claim was denied, and she remains on leave.
A month later, Hespe filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, setting the stage for her sexual harassment suit against the city and Breimon.
Around the same time, she filed a complaint against Breimon with the police department. Breimon was slapped with a 30day suspension, which he appealed.
In her federal lawsuit, Hespe alleged the Chicago Police Department “directly encourages, and fails to adequately discipline, supervise and control its officers” and “facilitates the very type of misconduct at issue here by failing to adequately punish and discipline prior instances of similar misconduct.”
A federal judge dismissed much of Hespe’s lawsuit, arguing it was “undisputed that, during the course of the relationship, [Hespe] and Sgt. Breimon went on dates to movies, restaurants and concerts and met each other’s children . ... Plaintiff told Sgt. Breimon she loved and missed him ... and sometimes initiated sex ... and described to Sgt. Breimon what she wanted to do to him sexually.”