Head of D.A. unit hit with lawsuit
Two female Los Angeles County prosecutors have accused their supervisor in the district attorney’s elite major crimes division of making sexually graphic gestures, subjecting them to unwanted physical contact, and making disparaging remarks about a transgender attorney, according to a lawsuit filed this week.
Deputy Dist. Attys. Beth Silverman and Tannaz Mokayef say that Head Deputy Dist. Atty. Gary Hearnsberger repeatedly harassed them by grabbing their buttocks and discussing his affinity for sexually pleasuring women, according to the complaint filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Both prosecutors said they were punished for rejecting Hearnsberger’s advances and that other women in the major crimes division who submitted to such harassment received favorable treatment, the complaint said.
The lawsuit offers a damaging portrait of the division’s workplace climate, and the women’s allegations have led to the transfer of Hearnsberger at a time when the division is handling several high-profile prosecutions, including the murder case against New York real estate scion Robert Durst and the upcoming trial of the alleged Grim Sleeper serial killer. Silverman is one of the two prosecutors handling the Grim Sleeper case.
On Thursday, Hearnsberger denied the allegations and said he was “blindsided” by the lawsuit.
“I’m being charged with a crime I didn’t commit, and that’s not something prosecutors want to see,” he said. “It not only suggests that I’m doing something wrong, but it suggests that the other women assigned to the division are doing something to get good cases. It’s outrageous.”
Hearnsberger, a 33-year office veteran, said the lawsuit was filed by two disgruntled employees.
The dispute, he said, stems in part from friction that arose in one of Silverman’s recent murder cases when he intervened, angering her. He said he suspected Mokayef was upset by a case reassignment. He declined to elaborate.
Silverman declined to comment. Mokayef and their attorney, Gregory W. Smith, did not return calls.
Hearnsberger referred to the African American women involved in Silverman’s cases as “whores,” and Mokayef said he joked about a transgender attorney’s genitalia, according to the complaint. Silverman said he made gestures mimicking oral sex and, on several occasions, placed his hands on her buttocks, the suit said.
At a hillbilly-themed party for those working in the hardcore gang division in 2012, Hearnsberger donned overalls with no clothing underneath and had a stuffed sheep “attached to his crotch as if he was having anal sex with the sheep,” the lawsuit states. The complaint alleges that Mokayef rejected his sexual advances and was then given “stale investigations.” Silverman said in the suit that she was punished with humiliating criticism, among other measures.
Hearnsberger confirmed that his reassignment to the public integrity division came after the pair lodged complaints with the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
“Any kind of sexual allegations with me, her, them or other lawyers in major crimes or any other place where I’ve been head deputy is completely and totally untrue,” Hearnsberger said.
The district attorney’s office declined to comment, citing the litigation.