Charity operator must pay $1.5 million for sexual harassment

The former operator of a Wenatchee charity and thrift store has been ordered to pay $1.5 million to a dozen women he sexually harassed during work hours.

On Thursday, a Chelan County jury found Thelbert M. “Thad” Lawson and his wife, Karen Jean Monroe, civilly liable for repeated sexual harassment and retaliation at Veterans Warehouse stores in Kennewick and Wenatchee.

The jury deliberated for eight days after hearing testimony from victims who said Lawson sexually harassed or physically groped them and threatened them with firing or other retaliation if they filed a formal complaint. The jury also heard testimony from Lawson himself, who denied the allegations.

The jury found that Lawson had harassed seven of his store employees and five members of the public, including volunteers and customers of the two stores, by “regularly making comments about their sex lives, asking questions about them and asking them to show him their bodies.”

The twelve victims were awarded individual damages ranging from $20,000 to $275,000. The total of $1.5 million also includes $17,000 in back wages for the injured Lawson employees.

The lawsuit was filed by the Washington State Attorney General’s Office, which also sought reimbursement of Lawson’s legal costs and court costs, as well as a motion to enjoin him from future employment as a supervisor of women.

Lawson was previously convicted in 2021 of assaulting a woman who was shopping at the Veterans Warehouse Store in Wenatchee.