Authorities in DC are investigating possible criminal acts related to the former deputy mayor

Some agencies in Washington, D.C., may be violating the city’s new sexual harassment policy, which was updated after Mayor Muriel Bowser’s former chief of staff faced numerous allegations of sexual harassment, City Councilwoman Brianne Nadeau said Wednesday.

During an hours-long hearing on the sexual harassment investigation and report into the case of John Falcicchio, who was also deputy mayor for planning and economic development, Nadeau said more than a dozen agencies did not have a primary or secondary sexual harassment officer.

Bowser’s updated policy, released in late October, says each deputy mayor’s office and agency should designate these officials.

During the hearing, Nadeau said that according to the current list, three agencies do not have a primary sexual harassment officer and 14 other agencies do not have a substitute officer.

“Most of them probably have it, and the list hasn’t been updated,” said Vanessa Natale, deputy director of the mayor’s legal services office. “That’s one thing that drives me crazy about D.C. government, where it takes forever to change things on a website. I don’t know the rules, but maybe it hasn’t been updated.”

A report on the city’s handling of the scandal found that sexual harassment officers had not received appropriate training for their duties “and that their quality varied widely,” Nadeau said.

When asked about the training procedures, Natale said: “I can’t answer that. I don’t do the training.”

Much of Wednesday’s panel focused on the findings and recommendations of a report commissioned by the Office of the Inspector General. The report, which Nadeau made public last month, found that a third employee said Falcicchio targeted her and that he had a consensual relationship with a subordinate.

Two city employees accused Falcicchio of sexual misconduct, and the mayor’s office initially launched an investigation. The mayor’s legal counsel’s office said in May that it had “settled the two administrative complaints.” Local lawmakers ordered the inspector general’s office to hire a firm to conduct an independent investigation into the matter.

The report from the independent Office of the Inspector General uncovered possible criminal activity, including sexual assault. But during Wednesday’s hearing, Inspector General Daniel Lucas would not say to whom a criminal report was made.

“That’s a policy. When it comes to criminal investigations, I just don’t talk about it for fear of undermining that investigative work,” Lucas said.

A spokeswoman for the Washington, D.C., attorney general’s office, when asked if it was reviewing possible charges against Falcicchio, said prosecutors “can neither confirm nor deny” the existence of an investigation. Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in a letter that his office is investigating similar activities but only has the authority to bring charges for minor offenses.

The suggestion that the allegations against Falcicchio could be criminal was buried in a detailed report on the allegations, sparking a dispute between the mayor’s office and Schwalb’s over the release of relevant documents.

But in a press release after the hearing, Nadeau said she had obtained an agreement from Bowser’s legal counsel’s office to provide the documents to Schwalb to investigate possible criminal conduct.

Natale, an employee of the mayor’s legal office, told the committee that it has Falcicchio’s government phone and computer, neither of which were reviewed during the initial investigation.

The hearing was necessary, Nadeau wrote, because the independent report found that the mayor’s legal department “misled the public, failed to adequately collect and preserve all relevant evidence, failed to provide the investigation with the necessary staff and financial resources, and failed to adequately consider the need to consult with or refer the matter to law enforcement.”

Nadeau said she would not be satisfied until Falcicchio faced the consequences.

“Men like this don’t quit just because they have to, because they lose their job,” Nadeau said. “Men like this think they’re invincible. Men like this think rules don’t apply to them and women are just property.”

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