By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
Brookline’s Fire Chief Charles Corey resigned his post last week, seemingly under pressure.
Corey’s been the subject of controversy and had been suspended twice since December. The first time due to complaints of harassment, racist and sexist comments, and questionable accounting. The second time after a complaint was filed with the New Hampshire Human Rights Commission.
Town Administrator Paul Branscombe told InDepthNH.org Corey submitted an “involuntary resignation” on Sept. 23. Branscombe said the decision to resign was made by Corey’s attorney, Francis Murphy. Murphy has not responded to InDepthNH.org’s requests for comment.
The town’s Board of Fire Wards is beginning the search effort for a new chief and Dave Joki, the assistant fire chief and former Fire Ward, is now interim chief.
Corey was suspended in December after former administrative assistant Anais Molina alerted the Select board about Corey’s ongoing harassment and his orders to forge documents.
Molina quit her job as the department’s administrative assistant on May 24, four days before Corey returned following an internal investigation.
Corey wasn’t back long before he was suspended again in August, though the reason for that suspension has not been made public. InDepthNH.org has been told a complaint filed with the New Hampshire Human Rights Commission is behind the second suspension.
Molina started in October of last year and soon became Corey’s target, she previously told InDepthNH.org.
“He was just gunning for me as a Hispanic female. He said a lot of racial things,” Molina told InDepthNH.org.
Corey frequently talked about Molina’s weight and body shamed her in the office, she said. He would constantly tell her she’s getting fat and warned her that her husband would leave her because of her weight.
“Be careful, you’ll end up getting fat and your husband will leave you,” Molina said.
Corey even started taking photos of her during her lunch break, saying he wanted to send them to her husband. Molina began taking her breaks in her car to avoid Corey’s harassment.
“I cried for days,” she said of the photo incident.
Corey made inappropriate comments about the underwear of someone in the fire station, made comments about the way “people in Boston” wear pants to expose their “asses,” and engaged in name calling, such as calling another town employee a “bitch,” according to a town letter obtained by InDepthNH.org.
The final straw came when Corey demanded Molina create a fake billing invoice from Foundation Medical Partners in Nashua, including a forged signature, so that he could submit it to the town for reimbursement. When Molina balked at the order, Corey exploded, she said.
“I refused to do that, that’s why he screamed at me,” she said.
The Fire Wards determined through the investigation that Corey was “misguided,” but had good intentions when he asked Molina to forge the invoices.
“[S]ince the preponderance of the evidence demonstrated that the Chief’s motivation was to see expenses actually incurred by the Department was paid to the appropriate party, not to enrich himself or some other inappropriate purpose,” the Ward wrote in a March letter.
Corey was ordered to apologize to Molina for the harassment, which investigator Anne Jenness determined had broken town rules. However, Jenness cast doubt as to whether the harassment violated any state or federal laws.
“I find by a preponderance of the evidence that Corey violated the Town’s EEO Policy and/or Sexual Harassment Policy,” Jenness wrote. “As noted above, these EEO and Sexual Harassment Policies hold employees to a higher standard of conduct than the law requires. I do not draw conclusions as to whether these findings would represent a violation of federal, state, or local laws.”
