City to pay $150,000 to end same-sex harassment suit

The city of Concord has agreed to pay $150,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a civilian community service officer who said she was sexually harassed by the highest-ranking woman in the Police Department, attorneys in the case said Tuesday.

Wendy Schwartzenberger said in her suit that Lt. Robin Heinemann, a 23-year veteran of the department, made unwelcome remarks to her from 2004 to 2009. Heinemann patted Schwartzenberger’s behind, kissed her at least 100 times and made her uncomfortable by referring to her and her partner, including asking whether Schwartzenberger would ever share her sexually, said the suit filed last year in Contra Costa County Superior Court.

Attorneys in the case have agreed not to comment on the merits of the lawsuit, said Mark Coon, acting city attorney. But Coon said settling the case “is in the best interests of all concerned, taking into account the costs of litigation and the disruption to staff that trying this case would entail.”

The settlement will be paid from city funds, officials said.

According to the suit, Heinemann grabbed Schwartzenberger during a photo opportunity and “told her that she wanted to have a threesome with her in the middle.”

At a lunch in April 2009 to welcome a new officer, the suit said, Heinemann opened Schwartzenberger’s fortune cookie and read the message aloud: “You will be giving this year.”

Heinemann added, “in bed,” and suggested to Schwartzenberger that she call her partner to “ask how giving she had been in bed that year,” the