Former KCCC Director Files Suit Against Prosecutor
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Amanda Bridgman-abridgman@timesuniononline.com
Anna Bailey, the former Kosciusko County Community Corrections director who resigned and was arrested late last year, has filed a discrimination complaint against Dan Hampton.
Hampton is the Kosciusko County Prosecuting Attorney and filed felony charges against Bailey Dec. 17 for obstruction of justice and official misconduct.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Bailey is accused of knowingly allowing her assistant, Taylor?Pagan, to have a relationship with an inmate they were to be supervising, Steven Gasaway. Prosecutors allege that Bailey not only allowed this to happen, but provided special privileges – against department rules – to Gasaway and then tried to cover it up when she felt she was being investigated.
Bailey resigned Nov. 20 after the KCCC Advisory Board met and was prepared to suspend her for these alleged violation of policies and procedures.
A warrant was issued for Bailey’s arrest Dec. 17, and she was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail Dec. 19 and released on $5,250 bail.
Special Judge Dean A. Colvin of Marshall County Superior Court II has been appointed to her case, according to court records.
On Dec. 5, Bailey filed a charge of discrimination in the office of the South Bend Human Rights Commission.
Bailey is accusing Hampton of retaliation and sex and disability discrimination in the paperwork.
“I am a qualified female formerly employed by respondent (Hampton) since June 6, 2016, as director of community corrections. Around Aug. 8, 2018, I began to endure ongoing sex-based harassment from Prosecutor Daniel Hampton. I believe Dan does not like females in leadership positions, so he was creating a hostile work environment so I would resign,” the complaint reads.
Bailey then writes that in September 2018, all county employees began getting compensated at the 2019 pay rate, but she did not.
“Dan was making efforts to prevent my pay increase. No other employees were subjected to the same extreme justification for a pay raise. Dan constantly heavily scrutinized my work and this behavior escalated to the point that I requested a meeting with the Attorney General on Oct. 29,” Bailey writes. She also states that she reported the alleged harassment to Kosciusko County Human Resources, to three Kosciusko County judges, the county commissioners, the county attorney and to a KCCC Advisory Board member.
Bailey then writes that on Nov. 19, when the KCCC Advisory Board met to have her suspended, “an excessive force of 14 police officers and animal control arrived at my office to escort me and my service dog from the building. These 14 officers unnecessarily surrounded my vehicle.”
Bailey claims Hampton knows about her disability and claims comments were made about her mental status in relation to her disability.
“I resigned Nov. 20 due to the excessive stress and intolerable working conditions,” Bailey writes. “I believe that I have been discriminated against due to my sex, retaliated against for reporting harassment and discrimination and my disability, and that my rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and Americans with Disabilities Act may have been violated.”
Hampton said the county is working on a response to the complaint and it will be filed directly with the Commission and that due to the legalities of the EEOC process, the response can only be provided to the Commission.
