Newly hired jails big resigns after charge of sexual harassment
The No. 2 official in the city Correction Department abruptly resigned Friday while under investigation following a sexual harassment complaint filed against him, sources said.
Joseph Dempsey, a veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, quit just three months into his tenure. He was hired by Correction Commissioner Louis Molina, who on Oct. 31 touted him as a “forward thinker.”
Sources said Dempsey is accused of texting a sexually explicit picture to a male Correction Department employee. That employee filed a sexual harassment complaint against him.
The employee’s lawyer, Sarena Townsend, declined to discuss the allegations but issued a statement.
“It is appalling that my client should face sexual harassment of this nature by Commissioner Molina’s hand-picked senior deputy commissioner,” said Townsend, a former Correction Department head of trials and investigations who Molina fired a year ago.
“My client, who never asked to be in this position, was not only mortified by the harassment of such a prominent figure at DOC, but now, because of DOC’s rumor-mill culture, will be subjected to public humiliation and retaliation.”
DOC spokeswoman Latima Johnson said the agency does not comment on personnel matters.
It was an abrupt and shocking end to Dempsey’s tenure. His hiring as senior deputy commissioner of operations was touted as part of a strategy to hire outside correction experts to top positions at the agency, and sideline the agency’s uniformed leadership.
“Joe Dempsey’s knowledge and expertise in correction reform, use of force, and the urban jail population will be an asset to this department,” Molina said Oct. 31. “I’m excited to have him join this agency as we look to deliver forward-thinking, data-driven policy and practical improvement to our city’s jails.”
Dempsey had been slowly assuming a role overseeing the operations of the entire department — a position that has always been held by uniformed chiefs, including the current Chief of Department Kenneth Stukes.
Molina has showcased the outside hires as evidence of a changing agency, and his plans were endorsed by Steve Martin, a monitor appointed to track violence at Rikers as part of a federal lawsuit.
But union officials said Dempsey’s departure raises questions about the outside hiring plan.
“He appeared to me to be a very serious man, a very capable man, and I know he has a very respectable resume,” said Joseph Russo, president of the union that represents deputy wardens and assistant deputy wardens.
“But until they fix the inmate control and violence problem, they can bring in all the Joseph Dempseys they want and the jails are still not going to be fixed.”
Anna Friedberg, a lawyer with Martin’s office, did not respond to emails seeking comment.