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Child Endangerment / Familial Abuse & Violence / Improper Conduct or Comments / Sexual Battery / Sexual Harassment

982: Michael Patterson

Cajsa LilliehookLeave a comment

Michael Patterson was the City Manager of Florence, Colorado. He was arrested in November 2021 for four counts, including two counts of stalking-emotional distress, a Class 5 felony; sexual contact-no consent, a Class 1 misdemeanor; and providing alcohol to a minor, also a Class 1 misdemeanor. He was immediately terminated and ordered to stay off city property.

However, the council knew about a litany of complaints about his behavior in the office and had already settled three sexual harassment suits. They knew he had pleaded guilty to domestic violence in Oregon when they hired him. When word got out about this arrest, all but one council member resigned.

He pleaded guilty to providing alcohol to a minor on October 20, 2022 and was sentenced to two years probation in January 2023.

U.S. District Court lawsuits claim City of - Daily Record, The (Cañon City, CO) - February 7, 2022 - page 1 February 7, 2022 | Daily Record, The (Cañon City, CO) | Carie Canterbury Two separate lawsuits recently have been filed in U.S. District Court against the City of Florence and its former city manager, Michael Patterson, claiming that Patterson's alleged sexual harassment was "severe and pervasive" and that city officials not only knew about the allegations, but they didn't take any action. The suits were filed by a former city employee and a current city employee. Because the alleged victims are claiming sexual harassment and abuse, their names will not be printed. Both lawsuits allege that the City of Florence enabled Patterson's "system of abuse," which allegedly occurred during working hours at City Hall. "In fact, at Mr. Patterson's request, the city paid for and installed blinds in his office so as to allow to him to engage in predatory behavior in his office," the lawsuits state. Patterson, 54, was arrested Nov. 15 and later charged with two counts of stalking – emotional distress, and sexual contact – no consent and providing alcohol to a minor. The lawsuits claim discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, emotional distress, assault, battery, false imprisonment, negligent hiring, negligent supervision, negligent retention, defamation and wrongful termination. The first lawsuit, filed Jan. 31, claims that Patterson sexually harassed the alleged victim via text messages and verbal comments and that he sexually assaulted her while pinning her against a door. In August 2021, just before Patterson was terminated, he allegedly took the female employee into his office, shut the door and locked it, closed the blinds, pushed her against the door and forcefully touched her genitals. After she refused his advances, he allegedly retaliated against her by making false claims, "including grotesque claims that she was being sexually inappropriate" and rather than addressing the substance of the reports, the city attorney "joined the City in attempting to blame the victim." The second lawsuit, filed Feb. 4, claims that Patterson sent text messages from his city-funded cell phone that "ran the gamut from fantasizing about (the named victim) to explicitly asking her to have sex with him." The alleged victim explicitly told Patterson to stop the behavior, to which he refused, the lawsuit states. She "had no reasonable alternative but to resign." City officials who worked alongside her and Patterson knew this abusive behavior for months and did nothing, including her supervisor, who now is the current interim city manager, the lawsuit states. The suit alleges that Interim City Manager Sean Garrett has "repeatedly exclaimed that Mr. Patterson's victims of sexual harassment and sexual assault need to 'move on' ad 'get over it.'" According to the lawsuit, other department heads knew of the alleged abuse and of Patterson's "predatory behavior." Both lawsuits state that during Patterson's tenure as the City Manager of the City of Redmond, Ore., he was charged with one count of felony fourth-degree assault and one count of misdemeanor fourth-degree assault against a woman with whom he was in a romantic relationship. The lawsuit states that the City of Florence performed a background check that contained information about the misconduct and that the city knew about this history of misconduct before they hired him. According to The Oregonian/OregonLive, Patterson was sentenced to an 18-month counseling program aimed at preventing domestic violence. "Evidence of Mr. Patterson's behavior and related complaints and charges are and were readily available with a simple internet search," the lawsuit states. According to a statement released by the City of Florence in January, Patterson was selected Dec. 5, 2011, for the position with council members Charles Giebler, Svatlana Pittingrud, Larry Baker, Tony Martinez and Nichole Prickett voting aye, Georgia Enslow abstaining and Mayor Ron Hinkle voting nay. The lawsuit also alleges that the city's attempts to "assert that Mr. Patterson's conduct took City government by surprise" are false. In or around late 2019, another former female City employee allegedly was sexually harassed by Patterson and then-Police Chief Mike DeLautrentis, according to the lawsuit. The alleged victim brought the harassment to the attention of the city, the suit states, but she was terminated "in retaliation for reporting this sexual harassment." In 2019, she settled a claim with the City of Florence. Information provided by the CIty of Florence in January states that the city settled one prior lawsuit/claim involving Patterson on Nov. 13, 2019. The city paid $1,000 in the form of a deductible, and the city's insurance carrier paid a settlement in the amount of $54,290. "Even after the city was made aware of Mr. Patterson's practice of abusing women, the City did not implement any supervisory protocol over him in an attempt to prevent his predatory behavior," the lawsuit states. "The City allowed Mr. Patterson's abusive behavior to continue." Patterson did not experience any tangible adverse employment action after his alleged abuse was brought to light. Instead, he was "promoted, given pay raises and hidden perks," the lawsuits allege. The suit alleges that City Attorney Matthew Krob "failed to adequately address, much less prevent, future abuse after (the alleged victims') complaints. "Mr. Krob's loyalty was to Mr. Patterson. As a further violation of his duty to the City, Mr. Krob secretly fed Mr. Patterson information about and reports made against Mr. Patterson," the suit alleges. "Perhaps this is unsurprising as Mr. Krob and Mr. Patterson often socialized outside of work." Copyright (c) 2022, Daily Record, The (Canon City, CO), All Rights Reserved.
Daily Record, The (Cañon City, CO)
February 7, 2022

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