NJ AG’s office settles sexual harassment case for $1.3M
TRENTON » Years before the Me Too movement gained national attention, a sergeant with the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office stood up for female officers who were sexually harassed by a co-worker.
Instead of receiving recognition, Sgt. Keith Stopko was retaliated against, stripped of his lieutenant title and ended up on emotional stress leave before never returning to his job, according to a copy of a civil suit he filed against his former employer.
Earlier this year, the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office agreed to pay Stopko to the tune of $1.3 million to settle the case, court records show.
“It was fair and appropriate,” Stopko’s attorney Jonathan M. Cohen said in a recent interview.
The parties were headed to trial but new Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal signed off on a settlement, Cohen said.
Stopko has since moved to Florida with his family after retiring from the Attorney General’s Office.
“He has tried to get many jobs over the years, law-enforcement related,” said Cohen, a Philadelphia-based attorney. “Surprisingly, he wouldn’t get accepted. Between having to leave and being a whistleblower, which when you Google the guy’s name, it comes out. In law enforcement, that’s not exactly an asset when you’re trying to get a job. He was kind of blacklisted.”
A spokesman for the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office declined comment on the settlement.
The case went back to November 2010 when a female detective reported to Stopko that Lt. John Torrey asked a different female detective to falsify an investigative report, according to court documents. That detective also reported Torrey allegedly had been sexually harassing the female detective he asked to falsify the report.
Shortly after, another detective told Stopko that Torrey was placing detectives in unsafe working conditions, violating the division’s standard operating procedure regarding undercover officer safety and sexually harassing female detectives, court records indicate.
This was all reported by Stopko to First Deputy Chief of Detectives Allan Buecker, who was buddies with Torrey.
Buecker allegedly never filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) office, which is standard procedure.
In June 2011, the internal affairs division of the attorney general’s office allegedly initiated an investigation of Torrey and Buecker, in which Stopko was interviewed. Buecker discussed “paybacks for those who went against Torrey” in the internal affairs investigation,” the lawsuit states.
In April 2012, Torrey was terminated from the attorney general’s office, the lawsuit states.
In December 2012, a deputy attorney general allegedly told Stopko he was on the “black list” and would never get promoted. The deputy further stated “you should make amends with Buecker because he can destroy you and your career,” according to the lawsuit.
Stopko was stripped of his acting lieutenant title in January 2013. He then began three months of medical stress leave on the advice of his medical doctors, according to the civil complaint.
Stopko was on paid leave until July 2013. He ultimately retired from his position and never returned to work.
Stopko sued his former employer for depression, embarrassment and humiliation, medical expenses, mental anguish, severe emotional distress, job earnings capacity loss, lost/ denied promotion, demotion and personal expenses.
The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement.