Ex-troopers file civil rights suit

Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2003 | 9:50 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Three former Nevada Highway Patrol troopers filed a civil rights lawsuit Monday, alleging they were forced to resign because they blew the whistle on alleged misconduct by Dick Kirkland, the former director of the state Department of Public Safety.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Reno, says Kirkland and his managers conducted a "lengthy retribution campaign of harassment and hostile working conditions" against the three.

Stewart Handte, a 19-year NHP veteran, and Tony Dosen, a 14-year veteran, and Matt Paszek, a former NHP lieutenant, filed the suit.

Trooper Lorie McGrath, a 20-year veteran, subsequently joined in the suit. She said she was subjected to sexual harassment and a hostile work environment because her father, former Carson City Sheriff Paul McGrath, wrote letters without her knowledge to the local newspaper criticizing the Kirkland administration.

Kirkland, who retired in May, said the suit was "typical nonsense." He said problems existed in the Highway Patrol before he arrived. "And I had to resolve them."

Kirkland said the allegations are not true and predicted the suit "will not get very far."

Handte, former president of the Nevada Highway Patrol Association, alleges he was forced from his job because he blew the whistle on public corruption. When the Kirkland administration went after Handte, Dosen and Paszek backed him up, according to the suit.

Handte raised concerns about missing vehicles in the Highway Patrol inventory, about Kirkland and Officer Jim Farmer posting an official vehicle on the property of millionaire Moya Lear as a courtesy and about pressures to close an investigation involving a fatal accident near Reno, the lawsuit notes.

Handte said he brought these issues to the attention of Gov. Kenny Guinn and to deputies for former Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa.

Handte said that when he spoke out on these and other issues, he was the subject of discipline that violated his right of free speech.

In September or October 2001, he said he received a copy of a "hit list" in which he was targeted by the Kirkland administration for exercising his right to free speech.

Handte said his health suffered because of this harassment and he was placed on administrative leave.

The suit, which does not specify the amount of damages being sought, said the three former troopers suffered mental anguish, harm to their reputations, loss of employment, lost opportunity for career advancement and lost wages and benefits.

McGrath said she filed a complaint in January 2002 with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. A settlement was reached and the case was closed, but "since then, she has been harassed and retaliated," the lawsuit alleges.