Delco officials fire employee who said her boss sexually assaulted her. They said the two were dating.
Delaware County officials said Maille Russell Bonsall and Tim Boyce were in a "longstanding romantic relationship." Through her lawyer, she denies that.
A woman who filed a federal lawsuit saying Delaware County officials retaliated against her after she reported that her boss had sexually harassed and abused her has been fired.
Maille Russell Bonsall, of Morton, was dismissed from her job as an assistant 911 coordinator on Feb. 28, county officials said in court filings, but they said the firing was unrelated to the allegations she raised in the suit.
In the lawsuit, Bonsall said former county emergency services director Tim Boyce subjected her to “unwanted verbal, physical and sexual harassment during and after work hours,” including masturbating in front of her in his office. Boyce’s successors made her feel unsafe at work after she reported the abuse, she said, by ignoring her and blocking her access to systems needed to do her job.
In court documents responding to the lawsuit, county officials disputed those assertions and said she and Boyce had been in a “longstanding romantic relationship” for years, repeatedly sending sexually explicit texts and nude images to each other using county-issued cell phones.
There was no evidence, they said, that any of Boyce’s advances toward Bonsall were unwanted or unwelcome. In fact, the filing said, she repeatedly told Boyce via text that she loved him.
Bonsall’s attorney, Mark Schwartz, said she denies any sexual or romantic relationship with Boyce and stands by the allegations in her lawsuit. He said county officials’ decision to fire her was retaliatory, meant to punish her for reporting the abuse.
As for the firing, county officials said they dismissed Bonsall after officials found that she had been illegally recording conversations with her superiors — including the ones she accused of retaliating against her.
County investigators also found that Bonsall had joked with Boyce about being high on marijuana while working, had improperly altered her timecard, and refused to fully participate in their investigation into her complaints of retaliation, the lawyers said.
Boyce, 61, was fired in May and is awaiting criminal trials on indecent assault and harassment charges filed after another employee said Boyce forcibly kissed her in his office, and a second woman told investigators that Boyce made lewd comments to her after groping her.
He has denied any wrongdoing, and pleaded not guilty in both cases.