Press release from Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office:
Buncombe County has settled a lawsuit filed in 2020 by former Detention Officer Cynthia Heaton. Ms. Heaton alleged that the Office of the Sheriff, during Sheriff Van Duncan’s administration, was negligent in supervising and retaining former employee Charles Wilhelm resulting in damages stemming from Mr. Wilhelm’s sexual harassment and assault of Ms. Heaton while Ms. Heaton worked at the Sheriff’s Office.
Mr. Wilhelm pleaded guilty to three counts of misdemeanor assault on a female in December of 2019. Sheriff Duncan contacted the State Bureau of Investigation regarding the allegations and later terminated Mr. Wilhelm’s employment. A settlement of $695,000 was agreed upon with Ms. Heaton through voluntary mediation.
“On behalf of the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office, I apologize to Ms. Heaton for the harm she suffered. Sexual assault and sexual harassment are never acceptable. If any employee of the Sheriff’s Office has been subject to sexual assault or sexual harassment, I encourage them to report the matter to our Office of Professional Standards and/or Human Resources,” says Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller.
“What happened to Ms. Heaton was inexcusable and this settlement represents the consequences for acts of sexual assault and sexual harassment in the workplace. It is imperative that when a supervisor learns about a potential violation of the sexual harassment policy, they report it up the chain of command immediately,” says Buncombe County Attorney Curt Euler.
As long as these goons get away with shifting costs to taxpayers, this problem with men of authority will never change. They have to pay damages personally before true accountability is achieved. She got a nice payout from innocent citizens.