City of Granby denies former police officer's sexual harassment allegations

Granby officials admit Whitney Dodson once worked for them as a police officer and that she is a female, but not much else.

The city, in documents filed Friday in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, responded to Ms. Dodson's sexual harassment lawsuit, mostly with one-word answers. That word, which came in response to each of Ms. Dodson's allegations was "denied."

In addition to saying Ms. Dodson's accusations are false, city attorney Malcolm Robertson of Joplin offers the following defenses for the city:

-Ms. Dodson "failed to state a claim" for which damages can be awarded.
-Her lawsuit is barred by "the doctrine of sovereign immunity."
-She failed to state a constitutional issue or federal question that can be addressed in the court.
-She is barred from filing the case by "official immunity."
-The city reserves the right to come up with additional defenses.

The following description of the case was given in the Dec. 1 Turner Report:

In the lawsuit, which was filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Whitney Dodson claims she was sexually harassed by Alderman Jeremy Hopper almost from the time Hopper took office in April.

According to the petition, Hopper continually made remarks about Ms. Dodson's body, propositioned her numerous times, asked her to perform a sexual act on him, and bragged about the size of his sex organ.

Ms. Dodson claims the harassment began about two months after she started working for the city:

On or about April 16, 2009, Plaintiff Whitney Dodson was asked by Alderman Jeremy Hopper to come to his residence to speak to him and Mayor Paul Ferguson because she missed the mandatory meeting held earlier that day by Mayor Paul Ferguson. Both Ferguson and Hopper were newly elected officials. 11. While at Alderman Hopper’s residence, he made remarks to Plaintiff Whitney Dodson about her body and also made sexual jokes towards her. Mayor Ferguson was present during these remarks and laughed at them.

During the first week of May, 2009, Alderman Hopper increased his flirtation with Plaintiff Whitney Dodson and told her that he wanted to have sex with her and also told her that he, Mayor Ferguson and Alderman Sparnicht could do anything they wanted with the City. Hopper also told her that the last female officer (performed an oral sex act on him) and that he had told other city officials that she was caught having sex with another city employee, which led to her resignation. Hopper had also told Plaintiff Whitney Dodson “I have a huge (sex organ)”; “I want to see you naked”; “I would (crude four letter word for a sex act) you in a heartbeat”.

Ms. Dodson says she told Police Chief Gail Bass about the harassment and she was moved from the midnight shift to the day shift. During that period, she says, Hopper began sending her "sexually explicit text messages and kept repeating that he wanted to have sex with her."

In May, Hopper came to the police station at a time when Ms Dodson was working alone, the lawsuit says.

He made sexual jokes to her and asked her about her sex life. He again told her about his “large (sex organ)” and began to unzip his pants. Dodson ran into the bathroom and locked the door.

Hopper started laughing and told Dodson it was okay to come out and that he was just joking around. Dodson told Hopper that it didn’t look good for him to be at the station with her there by herself and that he should probably leave. Hopper told her that since he was now an Alderman for the City that no one could touch him and that he and the Mayor were “best buddies”.


During the rest of the month, the lawsuit says, Hopper kept asking Ms. Dodson for sex, and then he started claiming that she was having sex with Police Chief Bass.

During the month of June, 2009, Alderman Hopper invited Plaintiff Whitney Dodson to come over to his house and sleep instead of her driving home. Hopper told her that he was “going to slide his (sex organ) into her” and told her again that he wasn’t joking and that he would “stick his (sex organ) into her”.

Plaintiff Whitney Dodson continued to resist Hopper’s remarks and on or about
June 18, 2009, Hopper ordered Chief Bass to move Dodson back to the midnight
shift. Chief Bass was fired on June 23, 2009.

Ms. Dodson says she took her complaints about Hopper to Mayor Ferguson the day after the police chief was fired. "Mayor Ferguson told Dodson to give him “solid proof” of Hopper’s remarks and behavior and that he would have Hopper impeached."

The problems with Hopper escalated after Ms. Dodson investigated fireworks that had been set off illegally after midnight in the Fastrip parking lot and Hopper admitted he was the one who did it, according to the lawsuit.

Whitney Dodson reported to Mayor Paul Ferguson the firework incident and was told that he would investigate and would issue Hopper a citation if warranted. Dodson questioned the appropriateness of the Mayor investigating an alderman and suggested an outside agency be given the report and conduct an investigation. The mayor declined her suggestion."

Whitman fired Ms Dodson Aug. 19, the lawsuit said. The letter announcing the firing:

"informed Plaintiff Whitney Dodson that her job was being terminated because “it would not serve in the best interest of the Granby Police Department to attempt to train an inexperienced officer with limited resources to do so” and “one on one training from a senior officer of this department would not allow (the Chief) to maintain adequate shift coverage”. That the reason given by Chief R. Scott Whitman is pre-textual and retaliatory in that Plaintiff Whitney Dodson had accused Alderman Hopper of sexual
harassment and Mayor Paul Ferguson clearly had no intention of curtailing Hopper’s behavior; that Mayor Paul Ferguson clearly had no intention of investigating the firework incident involving Hopper; and now the City of Granby was short police coverage due to Plaintiff Whitney Dodson taking off work for medical reasons brought on by the hostile work environment.

Ms. Dodson claims the city of Granby provided a "hostile work environment," and says she has suffered "emotional, psychological, and physical trauma," as well as economic losses.

Ms. Dodson is asking for damages in excess of $75,000, attorney fees, expert witness fees, and court costs. She is asking that the trial be held in Springfield.