NORFOLK
A Tidewater Community College professor has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit accusing three college officials of failing to protect her from a supervisor who sexually harassed her and, later, plotted to have her killed.
Kimberly A. Perez, an associate professor in computer science, will seek millions of dollars in damages, one of her attorneys said Friday.
The suit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court, names Provost Quintin Bullock, Dean Joanne Diddlemeyer and former Dean Jimmy Peterson as the college officials Perez claims failed to take action when she complained about the harassment and murder plot.
Former professor Jay A. Glosser was convicted in the murder-for-hire plot and is serving an 8-1/2-year prison term. Glosser arranged through two other men to have Perez killed because of a sexual harassment complaint she filed against him. Perez learned of the plot and reported it to Virginia State Police, which led to a sting resulting in the arrests of the three men.
The lawsuit alleges a pattern of behavior by Glosser, including posting a fabricated MySpace page containing sexually explicit language and a photo of Perez, leaving her romantic notes and phone messages and then, when she spurned him, hatching the murder plot. Both worked at TCC's Norfolk campus.
Perez says in the suit she brought all this to the attention of the TCC officials but they failed to act.
Even after she alerted the officials to the murder plot, Perez says, Diddlemeyer ordered her to report to the TCC campus on June 5, 2006, despite her fears that she would be attacked. Earlier that day, Perez had received a phone call from the "hit man" instructing her to drop the sexual harassment complaint against Glosser and pay $10,000 "in order to avoid being killed," the lawsuit states.
The next day, working with state troopers, Perez set up the sting. She wrote out a statement, placed it in a P.F. Chang's bag, stapled it shut and dropped it in a parking lot near a local hospital. When the hired hit man, F. Devin Scott, retrieved the bag, he was arrested.
Scott confessed to the plot, pleaded guilty and is serving seven years in prison. A middleman involved in the plot, Raymond Groves Sr., also was convicted and sentenced to eight years.
Perez also alleges that the TCC officials retaliated against her after she filed the complaints against Glosser, her supervisor, by refusing to promote her and transfer her.
Lisa A. Bertini, one of Perez's lawyers, said proving retaliation is a requirement in order to succeed in a sexual discrimination suit.
Perez, now working at the TCC Virginia Beach campus, is seeking $900,000 in compensatory damages and "millions more" for emotional damages, Bertini said.
TCC officials would not comment on the suit Friday. They had been served with the suit on Thursday.
Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com
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