By Dan Murphy
A bombshell lawsuit against the Town of Greenburgh, the Greenburgh Police Department, and 16 Greenburgh Police officers alleges a pattern of sexual harassment against Officer Kristin Stein.
The allegations in Stein’s lawsuit include a sexual assault from a 2019 incident in the Greenburgh Police headquarters where Office Stein was learning over a table to collect pamphlets when police officer Jeff Cerone, “grinded against her rear, rammed himself into her backside with his genitals, then threw her towards the middle of the room”, according to the lawsuit.
Several Greenburgh police officers are caught on a body cam recording laughing after the alleged sexual assault took place, but it does not show the actions of Cerone. One officer that was not laughing was Kristin Stein’s brother, who was also a Greenburgh cop, and was in the room. The body cam was from police officer John Pilla, who had mistakenly turned it on during roll call.
Numerous other incidents of inappropriate texts, comments, sexual jokes, remarks, sexual solicitations, negative work assignments, silent treatment, uninvited sexual attention, displaying pornographic photos, are all alleged in the suit, filed in Federal Court in White Plains this summer.
Kirstin Stein was born in Greenburgh, went to the Ardsley schools, and comes from a family of police officers. Become a cop in her hometown was like a dream come true when she was appointed in 2017.
“Both of my parents are retired NYPD. My uncle, and godmother and lots of family and friends were police officer. And my brother is a police officer. It runs in the family, its hereditary. I looked up to my family and wanted to become a police officer since I was five years old. There was no pressure to do so from my parents, but they were extremely proud when it happened,” said Stein, who said that she was harassed for more than one year.
The other part of Stein’s life story is that she is bi-sexual, and when the male officers in the Greenburgh Police Department found out, the harassment against her increased drastically. “At first, I was retaliated against because I was a woman, but it became a more hostile work environment once they found out that I had a girlfriend. “
Once Stein’s sexuality was known by the male officers, most of whom were married, an obsession or sorts began, an example of which included a text from Cerone asking “if she was going to the beach with her girlfriend in a bikini and high heels.”
Most of the officers in the room have claimed that they did not witness the incident, despite getting caught on the body cam laughing about it, and re-enacting what happened after the fact. “I was in police headquarters with my uniform on and my badge, and I was treated worse than a criminal,” said Stein.
Immediately after the 2019 incident, Lt. Martin asked Officer Cerone two times, “what just happened and what the F*(^% just happened?” Cerone said “I don’t know.” After an investigation, Cerone was docked two weeks of vacation time.
Stein said that after the 2019 assault, “I was never spoken to again by my supervisors, to ask if I was ok or how I was being treated. Two supervisors, Lt. Martin, and Sgt. Fernandez followed protocol and reached out to me. All of the other officers either ignored me or engaged in talking poorly about me.”
Stein tried to transfer out of the Greenburgh Police Department to 8 Westchester police departments. She was hired by the Westchester County Police, only to have their offer rescinded because of what Stein and the lawsuit claims was the interference of Greenburgh Chief of Police Chris McNerney.
“I was given the job. I was told that I had the position, I passed all the drug psych interviews and was told that I had one of the highest scoring test scores. I had a start date. Now I’m blacklisted from every being a police officer again,” said Stein.
Stein and the lawsuit claim that Chief McNerney told someone in the Westchester County Police that Stein was “a sexual harassment liability.” “No explanation was given about why I didn’t get the job. I truly believe that Chief McNerney tried to keep me captive so that I became so miserable that I end up quitting. This falls on Officer Cerone and Chief McNerney.
“Every single word is truthful and factual. My main priority is to get out the truth about what happened. I need and want things to change, particularly in the Greenburgh Police Department. There are major, major issues with the Greenburgh PD.
“What happened to me was never addressed properly by the Greenburgh PD. I attempted to go through the normal way, by speaking with my supervisors, who opened an investigation. I want to be a role model for other women police officers so I’m willing to sacrifice and stand up for what is right and what is wrong.”
Officer Stein also brings up another important point. The officers that were in the room for assault are sworn to do something about it. “They were witnessing something illegal and did nothing. We are mandated to report and get involved. Their involvement was mocking the situation and then lying about it when asked.”
Sixteen officers are named defendants in the lawsuit they are: Brian Ryan, Robert Gramaglia, Kobie Powell, Brian Matthews, Frank Farina, Dennis Basulto, Eric Vlasity, Patrick Grady, Michael Cookingham, Alex Rodriguez, Brian Doherty, Dyana Albano, Frank Kozakiewicz, and Cerone, Pilla and McNerney.
“For more than one year I was sexually harassed. I felt someone thrust their groin into me, but it wasn’t just that assault but the retaliation against me and my brother after it happened. He was transferred and I was blacklisted,” said Stein, who is still employed by the Greenburgh police. She is using her accrued sick and vacation days to stay at home, after which she will be an unpaid employee.
Are there other incidents in the Greenburgh Police Department? Or any crimes committed alleged in the lawsuit? Stay tuned.
