The longtime head of the D.C. police photography lab, whose actions forced the District to pay tens of thousands of dollars over a sexual harassment complaint, has been accused in a new lawsuit of again making unwanted advances on a woman he supervised.
In graphic detail, the lawsuit filed in federal court last week accuses chief photographer William “Bill” Gresham of harassing 50-year-old Mary Gilkey even after the city settled a sexual harassment lawsuit with another employee, Tina Hall-Johnson, in 2001.
“The chief is well aware of this guy. The question is did they give him any training [after the earlier lawsuit] or did they do anything other than ‘wink, wink,’ ” said Gilkey’s attorney Ted J. Williams. “It looks like it was just ‘wink, wink.’ ”
Court documents do not say how much the city settled with Hall-Johnson, the woman in the first harassment suit, but records show that the District settled the case and paid more than $76,000 for attorney’s fees.
D.C. police spokeswoman Traci Hughes failed to return repeated phone calls Friday seeking comment.
In 2003, two years after the District settled with Hall-Johnson, the Metropolitan Police Department awarded Gresham with a lifetime achievement service award for “exemplif[ying] the qualities of dedication, commitment and service to others in furthering the Department’s mission” in his 33 years of service.
Williams, who also represented Hall-Johnson in her case, was surprised Friday to learn the department awarded a medal to Gresham.
“They’re giving him awards?” Williams said. “It is typical police department, closing ranks behind one of the good old boys.”
According to Gilkey’s lawsuit, Gresham’s advances against her occurred before and after the settlement in the earlier case. Gilkey complained to her bosses but they failed to take action, her suit states.
In 1998, Gilkey told investigators in the Hall-Johnson probe that while working in the dark room, Gilkey turned around and saw Gresham holding his penis and smiling. Gilkey ran out of the room and reported it to Gresham’s supervisor.
Over the years, Gilkey said, Gresham offered her thousands of dollars to perform sex acts, commented about her breasts, introduced something called a “peter meter,” brushed up against her in the dark room with an erection, grabbed her breasts and showed her pornography.
In March 2006, Gresham struck Gilkey on the top of her head with a telephone receiver so hard that she bled, the suit alleges.
