Several trustees in south suburban Dolton are calling on the mayor and a fellow village trustee, who are both at the center of an investigation, to resign. NBC Chicago’s Regina Waldroup reports.
Several trustees in south suburban Dolton are calling on the mayor and a village trustee, who are both at the center of an investigation, to resign.
NBC Chicago obtained copies of complaints accusing Mayor Tiffany Henyard and an unnamed Dolton trustee of sexual harassment, retaliation and discrimination. The Illinois Department of Human Rights told NBC Chicago's Regina Waldroup that it's investigating.
At the center is a trip they took last year to Las Vegas and a sexual encounter one woman says was not consensual.
There are six elected trustees on the Dolton Village Board.
Multiple trustees joined Henyard last May on an economic development trip to Las Vegas.
It was on that trip that the mayor’s now-former assistant claims she was the victim of an unwanted sexual encounter, carried out by an unnamed Dolton trustee. She has filed a complaint with the Department of Human Rights.
According to the woman’s complaint, after having dinner with an unnamed trustee, she started to feel disoriented…then she blacked out. The next morning, she woke up in the trustee’s hotel room with no memory of how she got there… experiencing physical discomfort.
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Dolton Police Officer Byron Miles, who was part of Mayor Henyard’s security detail at the time, also filed a complaint with the Human Rights Department.
He also went on that trip to Vegas and said in his complaint that the unnamed trustee called him on the phone and told him he had unprotected sex with the woman. In the complaint, Miles said he recorded some of their conversation on his iPhone.
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According to the complaints, the woman said when she told the mayor about the incident, the mayor said if this information became public -- she would be ruined. That all the work she’d done would be lost.
The ex-employee said the mayor told her she would take care of it and to trust her.
Days later, according to her complaint, the woman was put on unpaid medical leave – without her consent.
She was later terminated.
Trustees Tammie Brown, Kiana Belcher and Brittany Norwood did not go on that trip to Vegas.
The three trustees told NBC Chicago they are stunned to learn about the investigation by the Department of Human Rights and the allegations made by the mayor’s former assistant.
“That could have been any one of us,” Brown said. “That's somebody's daughter, and you have violated this young lady. That's like a punch in the gut to do something as you have done or allegedly have done and to not speak about is a cover up. How could you live with yourself?”
“I’m furious,” Belcher said. “This does not make any sense. It means that these people have known about this for some time. It’s almost a year later. This makes no sense. I'm hurt, and I'm furious.”
“The biggest fear is always, how far is this going to go before someone gets hurt? And this is what it's come to,” said Norwood.
The trustees said the mayor should have immediately launched an investigation. They are calling on her and the unnamed trustee to resign from the village board.
“Everybody involved, you should resign immediately,” Brown said. “There's already enough shame being brought to this village, how much more how much more...how much more? There were so many things she could have done to help that young woman. So many things. This is somebody that this young lady looked up to... called him uncle. She looked up to the mayor as well."
In a statement, Trustee Jason House said he did not go on the trip to Vegas. NBC Chicago reached out repeatedly to the remaining two trustees for comment, but we did not hear back.
The village, in a statement told NBC Chicago:
The village of Dolton conducted a thorough investigation into these allegations. The investigation was led by an independent third party company, consisting of former law enforcement officers, none of whom have ever been affiliated with the Village of Dolton. Former police officer Miles was interviewed and denied knowing anything about these allegations. Also, despite numerous attempts by the village’s independent investigators to contact the alleged victim, she refused to give a statement or cooperate with our investigation. Unfortunately, this is nothing more than two disgruntled village employees who are 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.
To clarify, Byron Miles is still a Dolton police officer. We asked the trustees if Miles should have done more, if he knew an unwanted sexual encounter occurred.
They told us they are still digesting the allegations. NBC Chicago did reach out to the attorney for Officer Miles and alleged victim for a statement.
