LITTLE ROCK, AR – A filing made in federal court Wednesday alleges that former Pulaski County Coroner Garland Camper had sex in the county morgue. The filing was an answer to a complaint made by Camper last month that he was discriminated against and forced to resign from his position.
“The termination should not have taken place because there were others in the county who had done similarly situated deals and had not been terminated,” said Camper’s attorney Willard Proctor.The lawsuit centers on events that precipitated a possible sexual harassment complaint by a Pulaski County employee and how that complaint was handled by Camper, County Judge Buddy Villines, and County Attorney Karla Burnett.
The complaint from Camper contends that he was assured by Villines he would be able to keep his job if he was able to settle the matter with the female employee privately and prevent the woman from bringing her complaint to the county.
Camper’s complaint says the matter was resolved, however, he was still forced to resign. The lawsuit contends that Villines allowed other similarly situated white employees to engage in the same conduct as Camper, but they were allowed to keep their jobs.
The county’s response, filed in court Wednesday, denies many of the claims in Camper’s lawsuit, saying that Camper is the only department head under Villines who had been accused of sexual harassment, and that others who had resigned were not accused of violating county policy.
The response says that Camper met a former employee at a strip club in January of 2011 and the two began texting with each other. The response says over a 3 week period in January they exchanged 467 text messages.
During that time span, according to the filing, Camper admits he and the former employee had sex at the county morgue, and a few days later, she was re-hired at the coroner’s office. The woman contended that her employment was conditioned on having sex with Camper and that Camper’s demands for sex continued after she was re-hired.
In the county’s response, Villines told Camper that he would not be able to continue his employment if the woman’s allegations turned out to be true. Camper was later asked if he had any exculpatory evidence to indicate that the woman’s employment was not conditional on sex with Camper. According to the response, Camper said he did not have any such evidence.
The following week, according to the response, Villines told Camper he could resign or he would be fired.
The response does request a jury trial, which has not been scheduled.
