A police officer filed a lawsuit alleging that her superiors had sexually harassed her, including telling her to reduce weight even though she was pregnant.
Officer Amanda Signorino of the St. Louis police department joined the force in December 2015 and dated Lt. Jeff Hoots.
She has claimed that her problems started after their breakup in 2017.
The suit claims she was subjected to “continuous and unreciprocated sexual harassment, intimidation, bullying, practical jokes and advances”.
“I have been sexually assaulted, harassed and discriminated against based on my gender” she wrote in court documents obtained by St Louis Today.
She continued: “After reporting the discrimination, I was retaliated against, transferred, and demoted.”
She added that even though she was six months pregnant, her employer instructed her to reduce weight in December of last year.
A sergeant who was also her ex’s friend allegedly gave her pornographic material in 2019 over Facebook. According to the Daily Mail, Hoots had already been moved to the Parks Ranger division by that point.
She asserts that after it was reported, she was summoned to a senior officer’s chamber to discuss it. The Facebook message was downplayed.
She eventually moved to another precinct, but in 2021 Hoots was also moved there after being implicated in another harassment controversy by a Park Rangers division employee.
In August 2020, when Brittney Young was only 21, she claimed Hoots personally recruited her for his division.
She claimed that he sent her indecent messages in addition to fabricating justifications to touch her up.
She said: “He did ask me, ‘Do you date older men?’
“And I told him, ‘No, I date people my age, not 50.'”
In a new lawsuit, Young accuses Hoots of sexual harassment and the larger force of failing to take sufficient action to stop him.
Due to this, Hoots was moved from the Park Rangers and put in command of Signorino again, which caused her own transfer.
Signorino alleges that she lost money and was made to work the midnight shift, which made it harder for her to care for her children.
Despite being six months pregnant at the time, Signorino claims a senior officer told her in December 2022 that she needed to lose 13 pounds because she was overweight.
She is requesting unspecified damages in excess of $25,000 in her lawsuit.
Regarding a current legal dispute, the county has declined to comment.
