St Louis cop told to ‘lose 13-pounds’ while pregnant sues for sexual harassment
ST LOUIS, MISSOURI: A St Louis police officer has alleged that she was sexually harassed by her supervisors, who sent her a pornographic video on Facebook and told her to lose weight while she was six months pregnant, according to a lawsuit filed in the city on Wednesday, January 25.
Officer Amanda Signorino joined the force in December 2015 and dated her supervisor, Lt Jeff Hoots, on and off for several years. But after their break-up in 2017, Hoots and other male employees subjected Signorino to “continuous and unreciprocated sexual harassment, intimidation, bullying, practical jokes, and advances,” claimed a lawsuit obtained by St Louis Today. “I have been sexually assaulted, harassed, and discriminated against based on my gender,” she wrote in the letter submitted to the court along with the lawsuit. “After reporting the discrimination, I was retaliated against, transferred, and demoted.”
In the lawsuit, Signorino claimed that Hoots repeatedly denied their relationship in front of his superiors as it was against the department’s policies. He was eventually transferred to another precinct, the Park Rangers, after they split up in January 2017. However, two years later in 2019, a colleague of Hoots, a sergeant, sent Signorino a pornographic video on her Facebook account, reported Daily Mail. Signorio said a colleague of hers reported the incident to the department on her behalf.
The department soon launched an investigation into the matter. A few days later, Signorino was called in for an interview but she was not allowed to bring her union representative “even though that is protocol.” “I tried to leave the interview, but [the sergeant] ordered me to sit at his desk,” she said in the lawsuit. “I gathered my courage and showed [the sergeant] the entire Facebook thread between [the sergeant] and me, including the porn video.”
Signorio continued by saying that the officers tried to dismiss her complaint and attempted to convince her that she was fabricating what had happened with Hoots. After the complaint, Signorio was transferred to another precinct, North County. But in 2021, Hoots was transferred to the same precinct after a member of his division accused him of sexually harassing her. As per Daily Mail, Brittney Young alleged that Hoots forced her to play his girlfriend in role-playing training exercises, as an excuse to touch her inappropriately.
Young also claimed that Hoots sent her inappropriate messages, especially after he was heavily drunk. He even sent her a photo of himself in his bedroom without a shirt on. “He did ask me, ‘Do you date older men?” she said. “And I told him, ‘No, I date people my age, not 50.'” Young has now filed a suit accusing Hoots of sexual harassment. She is also suing County authorities for not taking appropriate steps to stop him.
Further in the lawsuit, Signorio claimed that in December 2022, she had a semi-annual evaluation, where a lieutenant told her to lose 13 lbs, while she was six months pregnant. However, the lawsuit didn’t reveal who allegedly told her to lose weight. In her suit, Signorino is seeking an unspecified amount of damages in excess of $25,000. She retired from the force in April 2022 after serving the department for long 29 years.
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