A Covington police officer accused of sexually harassing two female employees has been suspended without pay for 30 days.
The board of commissioners decided Jason Hartzler will also be demoted one rank at a hearing Wednesday, which lasted from 5:30 p.m. until about 1 a.m. Thursday morning.
The hearing followed a police internal affairs investigation into incidents involving Hartzler in December 2022 and January 2023, according to a statement from the City of Covington. Hartzler requested that the hearing be open to the public, according to a statement from the city — personnel matters are normally heard in private.
“The City of Covington and its Police Department will not tolerate inappropriate behavior by its employees,” the city statement concluded.
Ten witnesses testified at the hearing, where Hartzler was found to have violated internal police policies related to unbecoming conduct and the behavior of employees and the work environment they create.
The first incident, according to a formal charging document provided by the City of Covington, happened in December 2022 when a female recruit reported to her second week of work.
The female recruit was in the roll call room, documents state, and Hartzler, who was a third-shift supervisor at the time, got up from his desk and followed her into the room.
“Once in the roll call room Sgt. Hartzler got into (the female recruit’s) personal space and was seen touching the front of (her) vest/outer carrier,” the document reads.
Hartzler then removed a patch from the back of the recruit’s vest, put it upside down, then fixed it, according to the charging documents.
“Witnesses confirmed there was nothing wrong with (the recruit’s) uniform when Sgt. Hartzler began to manipulate it,” the document said. “Witnesses to this event immediately reported the event and indicated that they were uncomfortable by the interaction and that it seemed (the recruit) was uncomfortable by the interaction.”
Witnesses said the interaction — which was reported to a supervisor — was inappropriate, unprofessional and odd.
The second incident, according to the charging documents, happened on Jan. 20, 2023.
Hartzler went into the crime lab seeking batteries for a Nerf gun he brought from home. When a female crime lab employee gave him the batteries, he then requested she shoot another detective, according to documents.
She did, then all three parties laughed, documents show. The detective gave the female crime lab employee several cell phones that needed to be processed, and while that was happening, Hartzler notified the female employee of a hole in the ceiling that leads to the mechanical room. Documents show Hartzler had already informed supervisors about the hole in 2021.
Hartzler continued to ask the female employee to go to the mechanical room with him to inspect the hole, even though the employee had no supervisory responsibilities or authority over security or repairs to the building.
Hartzler continued to try to get the female employee to go with him to the mechanical room, documents show.
The female employee became increasingly uncomfortable, the documents said, that Hartzler was trying to isolate her alone and away from the detective.
“This concern was so great,” the documents said, “that she solicited the assistance of the detective, who was processing evidence a few feet away, by mouthing ‘come with me.’ Due to Hartzler’s position as a supervisor, the employee did not believe she had any option but to go with Sgt. Hartzler.”
The detective accompanied the female employee and Hartzler to the mechanical room, where a chair was set up in the corner.
Hartzler told the female employee and the detective that the chair is the intended for people to sit in to receive sexual favors.
Once the trio was back downstairs at the station and Hartzler was in another room, the detective asked the female employee if she was OK.
“In response to the detective’s question, the employee informed him that she was very uncomfortable and didn’t want to be in the room alone with Sgt. Hartzler.”
The female employee then filed a complaint alleging sexual harassment.
The woman involved in the 2023 incident testified at Wednesday night’s hearing that “I felt scared and unsafe.”
The woman said Wednesday that Hartzler made a sexual remark about what a chair in the room was used for, which his lawyer did not deny he said but argued he did not direct it at the woman.
“This is not sexual harassment under the law,” said Luke Morgan, Hartzler’s lawyer.
The woman involved in the 2022 incident said she did not report Hartzler, but that other people who saw the incident reported it, after which Hartzler gave her a “half-ass apology.”
“I would say this so-called apology turned into more like a rant about getting in trouble and how he was told he shouldn’t interact with females,” she said.
Morgan defended Hartzler’s character and argued he didn’t break any federal laws. While testifying, Hartzler called the unwanted touching a practical joke and said he “absolutely regretted” what he called his humor in talking about the chair.
When asked what he would do to ensure his behavior doesn’t cause others discomfort, Hartzler said he needed to be “more cognizant of how I interact with them.”
WCPO contributed to this report.
