Dolton, Illinois, Mayor Tiffany Henyard (D) has been dubbed “America’s worst mayor” for her outlandish spending and abuse of office and is also being accused of covering up an alleged sexual assault that one of her colleagues committed against an employee.
A former Village of Dolton employee and a local police officer have brought a lawsuit against Henyard, CBS News reports.
The suit also names Dolton Trustee Andrew Holmes as a defendant, claiming he sexually assaulted the former employee while they were at a work conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, in May 2023.
Citizens for Andrew Holmes/Facebook
According to the complaint, the unnamed former employee went out with Holmes after a group dinner and ended up feeling disoriented and lightheaded, as if the ground was moving beneath her feet.
It was at this point she said she blacked out and did not remember anything until waking up in Holmes’ hotel room bed, fully clothed.
The Dolton police officer — who was on Henyard’s security detail before the Las Vegas incident — said that he spoke with Holmes on FaceTime while the trustee showed the alleged victim in a partially undressed state.
The officer complained that Holmes was shirtless while he “moved the camera to various private areas of (the employee’s) body displaying them on screen… and at times moving or removing articles of clothing as he transmitted the images,” according to the legal documents that the Daily Mail obtained.
Upon returning from the trip, Holmes allegedly told the officer that he had “unprotected” sex with the village employee. The cop then alerted the alleged victim to this, who claimed not to know what had happened when she woke up in the trustee’s bed.
The Las Vegas Police Department confirmed to CBS that there is an open investigation into Holmes but did not explicitly say that it involves potential sex crimes.
The civil lawsuit, filed with the Illinois Department of Human Rights, goes on to complain that instead of helping the alleged victim, Henyard terminated her employment with the Village of Dolton.
The Dolton police officer also complained that he was demoted to “patrol duty” and removed from the mayor’s security detail just days after the alleged victim complained.
Additionally, the cop claims he was “subjected to criticism unlike his peers for various behaviors” and was told to steer clear of both Holmes and the mayor when attending work events.
The plaintiffs are seeking “civil remedies” as compensation for the alleged “assault and battery” that Holmes committed and for Henyard’s subsequent actions.
Henyard is already the subject of an FBI probe following several controversies, including her brazen use of public funds for extravagant trips, parties, and beauty services.
The mayor has bragged about being Dolton’s youngest and first female mayor, but the accomplishments appear to stop there.
In a town where 20.2 percent of residents live in poverty, Henyard has a combined salary of nearly $300,000, as she is also a supervisor of Thornton Township
During a February town meeting where she was questioned on her spending habits, Henyard snapped at fellow officials in a dramatic rant.
“Y’all should be ashamed of y’all selves. Y’all black. Y’all are black. And y’all sitting up here beating and attacking on a black woman that’s in power. Y’all should be ashamed of y’all selves,” she said.
“Y’all forget I am the leader. They want to hear from the mayor. If y’all ain’t learned that yet, the mayor. Not the trustees that don’t do nothing that only run they mouth. Y’all don’t do no work, no work.”
Henyard also came under fire in September 2021 for hiring a registered sex offender, Breitbart News reported.
On September 20, the village hired Lavelle Redmond as a code enforcement officer — “a job in which he goes into Dolton homes and businesses to inspect them and make sure they are up to code,” according to Fox 32 Chicago.
The only problem was that Redmond pleaded guilty to taking part in a 1991 “brutal gang rape and beating” during which he and three other people kidnapped and sexually assaulted two young girls.
Henyard was invited to the White House and spoke with President Joe Biden in February, her Instagram account shows.
Henyard and Holmes have denied the claims listed in the recent lawsuit.
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