Text messages among Fresno police unit shows racist, homophobic language. See them here

A series of text messages shared among officers of the K-9 and mounted unit of the Fresno Police Department shows a barrage of sexual, homophobic and racist images in workplace conversations, The Fresno Bee has learned.

Former Sgt. Stacie Szatmari filed a lawsuit in July saying she was subjected to repeated sexual harassment even after telling the officers, including several she supervised, that the inappropriate behavior needed to end, according to the lawsuit’s complaint.

Multiple text message threads were released to The Fresno Bee by Szatmari’s attorney, Nick Yasman of Los Angeles-based West Coast Employment Lawyers.

Szatmari, who her attorney described her as “Fresno born and bred,” was promoted to sergeant with the unit about two months before Thanksgiving in September 2020.

The text threads were provided in an electronic document, which shows them as still photos though many of them were gifs, which are animated images that move.

The Fresno Police Department declined to comment, which is department policy for pending litigation.

The Fresno Mayor’s Office and City Attorney’s Office also declined to comment, citing the ongoing lawsuit, according to Sontaya Rose, the mayor’s spokesperson.

In one text thread, Lt. Bill Dooley sent a message that included Szatmari and officers Geoff Tushnet, Brian Sturgeon and Jim Young on Thanksgiving day in 2020 that led into a series of sexually explicit images.

“Happy Turkey Day (turkey emoji)!!! Geoffery-when you send out your annual turkey neck pic, you BETTER include Stacie!!! (Who is on this text (crying laugh emoji)...),” Dooley’s message says.

That message was followed by a text message image from Sturgeon of a turkey being stuffed by hand that has an animated face with its eyes wide open. “Oh yes! Stuff me! Stuff me real hard!” the text says.

Tushnet then sent an image of a cooked bird with what appears to be a human penis between its legs, the lawsuit says. “Our Turkey is already ready to Eat,” a follow-up text from Tushnet says.

A third image shows a closeup of a rooster with a pronounced wattle and makes a crude joke about genitals.

Days after being promoted, Szatmari was allegedly told by Lt. Jordan Beckford that the K-9 unit existed under “Vegas rules,” referring to a tourism ad campaign in Las Vegas, according to the lawsuit.

“What happens in the K-9 field, stays in and at the K-9 field,” the lawsuit claims Beckford said.

The city of Fresno’s employee handbook notes harassment can be verbal, physical or visual, adding that sexual harassment can include jokes or explicit material.

The handbook goes on to say sexual harassment does not need to be motivated by sexual desire, and does not require the harassment to be carried out on a subordinate by a supervisor.

Another series of text messages that leaned into jokes about race and homosexuality came in a thread from July 2021.

That thread included the same officers from before but also included officers Matthew Vincent, Brandon Lyon, Manuel Amaya and Will Padilla.

After Amaya corrects one of the officers for spelling his name as “Manual” instead of “Manuel,” the officers send a series of images about homosexuality to each other.

That includes two men holding hands as they cross a street, men carrying Pride flags, gay icon Freddie Mercury and the buttocks of a wrestler.

The images continue with more than one depicting the main characters from 2005 romantic drama “Brokeback Mountain,” a movie about a decades-long forbidden affair between two cowboys that began in the 1960s, as well as the face of porn star and producer Ron Jeremy. They carry on with several images of men holding sausages or men who appear to be masturbating.

Tushnet sent a message that says, “Bills president,” and an edited photo of President Joe Biden holding a sausage. The only person in the thread named Bill was Lt. Bill Dooley.

The messages then dip into racial and ethnic stereotypes as Young sent a message of a dog wearing a sombrero with “Mexico” written on its bill.

Tushnet then asks, “Is that Amaya’s hat?” and later sent an image of former President Donald Trump that says, “I love Mexico. I love the Mexican people. I love them.”

An image that came from Amaya says, “still got that trophy from when I banged your mom,” and features a picture of a man standing behind a pig atop a trophy.

Sturgeon also shared an image that says, “Well you ain’t that straight,” over the face of the main subject from the documentary “Tiger King.”

Was the conversation inappropriate?

The images used in the threads have no place in a work conversation, according to Matt McNicholas, a partner with Los Angeles-based McNicholas & McNicholas who has 23 years of experience in cases involving police and firefighters.

“It’s absolutely inappropriate conversation for a workplace, particularly a paramilitary organization,” he said.

McNicholas said he’s been part of hundreds of harassment cases while representing officers and firefighters.

It is not uncommon in a specialized unit — such as the K-9 unit — for one employee to try to “go along to get along” when they fit a demographic unlike the other officers, he said. Szatmari was the only woman in the unit.

“Paramilitary units can close ranks very tightly, and make your life very difficult,” he said.

He went on to say the text messages are not a snapshot of a moment of a lack of judgment by officers, but rather are indicative of what the officers have learned is appropriate.

“What this shows is a general tenor in not being afraid to be cavalier,” he said. “This is day in and day out. Absolutely, this is not a one-off.”

Noting the threads included a lieutenant, McNicholas said the inappropriate conversation should have been cut off immediately and reported up the chain of command.

What happened when she asked them to stop?

The lawsuit says Szatmari’s attempts to end the inappropriate dialogue went nowhere.

The unit during a round table in-person briefing discussed a blow-up doll in December 2020 that would be passed around at a Christmas party, the lawsuit says. Szatmari, the only woman in the room, asked them to stop talking about it but that only encouraged more talk until she left the room, the complaint says.

Szatmari recalled Dooley, who was her supervisor, telling her after the blow-up doll incident that “the boys get to do what the boys get to do, no questions asked,” the lawsuit says.

There was a running joke among the men about wanting to have sex with Szatmari’s sister, who had come by the office, the lawsuit says. One of the text messages in a third thread near Christmas 2020 — this time only featuring officer Donovan Pope — references the sister.

“Orrr ... we could have our white elephant party at your sister’s house ...” the text says.

The lawsuit says that Szatmari was embarrassed by many of the texts and images. She felt uncomfortable but would often react with a laughing emoji to avoid being alienated, it says.

She held a meeting with the unit in February 2021 to put an end to the inappropriate behavior, the lawsuit says.

In July of 2021, the same month as the homophobic and racist thread, Szatmari was pulled from duty and put on leave, the lawsuit says. She had begun to distance herself from the officers in the unit because of her treatment, the complaint says.

The lawsuit claims some of the officers filed a false complaint to Internal Affairs to get her removed, saying she had exposed herself to the men and danced while serving them tea during July 2021 on a trip for training in Southern California.

She was terminated in December of 2022. The lawsuit says the ordeal took a toll on her mental well-being, leading to panic attacks and anxiety.