Tiffany Henyard, the mayor of Dolton and the Thornton Township Supervisor, appeared at a Thornton Township meeting Tuesday night as she faces allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation, NBC Chicago’s Regina Waldroup reports.
Warning: This story contains details of a sexual assault allegation
Tiffany Henyard, the mayor of Dolton and the Thornton Township Supervisor, appeared at a Thornton Township meeting Tuesday night as she faces allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation.
The meeting marked Henyard's first public meeting since it was revealed that the Department of Human Rights is investigating Henyard's office for the aforementioned complaints.
She referred to herself as the "first supermayor" during the meeting before leaving the event without taking any questions.
NBC Chicago obtained copies of complaints accusing Mayor Henyard and an unnamed Dolton trustee of sexual harassment, retaliation and discrimination, with the complaints centering around an economic development trip to Las Vegas last May.
A now-former assistant says she was the victim of a sexual assault carried out by the unnamed Dolton trustee.
According to the complaint, she started to feel disoriented after having dinner with the trustee before "blacking out." After waking up the next morning, she woke up in the trustee's hotel room with no memory of how she got there while experiencing physical discomfort.
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Officer Byron Miles, who was part of Henyard's security detail at the time, also filed a complaint with the Human Rights Department.
Miles said in his complaint that the trustee called him on his phone and told him he had unprotected sex with the woman. Miles said he recorded some of their conversation in his complaint.
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According to the complaints, the woman said when she told Henyard about the incident, Henyard said that if the information were to be made public, she would be "ruined," that all the work she'd done would be lost.
The former employee said the mayor told her she would "take care of it" and to trust her.
Days later, the former employee said she was placed on unpaid medical leave without her consent and was later terminated.
Thornton Township trustee Christopher Gonzalez called the allegations serious during Tuesday's meeting.
"It is just unacceptable it is disgusting if that is true that there was an assault and an attempt at a coverup ..that is unacceptable," Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez said Henyard should step down as both mayor and Thornton Township supervisor if the allegations are found to be true.
"If all these things are proven- and action taken – I don’t see how she could continue as township supervisor," Gonzalez said.
The village said in a statement to NBC Chicago that it conducted a thorough investigation into the allegations led by an independent third-party company.
The statement also said that Officer Miles was interviewed and denied knowing anything about the allegations and the alleged victim "refused to cooperate with our investigation."
"This is nothing more than two disgruntled employees trying to make off with the taxpayers' hard-earned dollars. The village looks forward to defending these allegations and pursuing all other available remedies to the village," the statement said.
