Accusations fly over fallout from Harrison harassment case, calls to resign
Top Harrison officials are trading blame for the fallout from a harassment case as federal officials seek an accounting of the town's handing of the matter.
Thursday evening, Councilwoman Lauren Leader excoriated former town officials for how they handled Angela Bommarito's claims of sexual harassment against a senior firefighter, Henry Mohr.
Leader then called on Frank Allegretti and Jonathan Kraut, the two highest-ranking attorneys for the town, to resign.
"We knew about this case. We knew that he was a liability. We knew that he had pled guilty to stalking. And we knew the law," she said at a board meeting. "People who sexually harass should not be promoted, nor should we be retaliating against people when they raise legitimate civil rights complaints. It is an embarrassment to our town."
Bommarito was a firefighter with the town from 2015 until her resignation in 2016.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil lawsuit against the town and the fire department, accusing senior officials of covering for Mohr and ignoring Bommarito's allegations.
In response to Leader's comments at the board meeting, Allegretti issued a statement of his own assailing the remarks, calling them "an obviously amateurish political stunt."
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"Councilperson Leader’s unwarranted criticisms, made as she publicly championed the cause of a litigant whose interests are adverse to the town’s, were an unprecedented breach of town policy and good governance," he said. "More importantly, her rhetoric made clear that she knows nothing about the law and little of the facts."
Allegretti said that Leader's comments "demonstrated questionable judgment and raise potential ethical and fiduciary questions about her fitness for office."
The Justice Department's suit lays out a pattern of harassment and intimidation it says Bommarito suffered not only during her interactions with Mohr, but over the course of her attempts to come to a resolution with town officials.
The lawsuit says her resignation was coerced by then-Police Chief Anthony Marraccini. (Marraccini was later charged with and pleaded guilty to a federal tax evasion charge that is unrelated to the Bommarito case. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison.)
Bommarito's relationship with Mohr, who held various positions at the fire department over the last several decades, including that of chief, was at times consensual. But the Justice Department says that her attempts to extricate herself from that relationship were unsuccessful because of Mohr's persistence, which included alleged harassment and stalking.
In one interaction cited in the civil suit, Bommarito is shown texting Mohr that he should avoid "crossing any boundaries." Mohr's response: "Stop it... come toward the men's room."
In 2016, he was arrested and pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree harassment, a violation. On Thursday, Chief Ralph Straface confirmed Mohr's resignation, though the exact nature of his departure remains unclear.
Do you or did you work for the Harrison Fire Department? Contact reporter Asher Stockler at astockler@lohud.com. Reach him securely: asher.stockler@protonmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Harassment case has Harrison officials trading the blame
