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Dispatcher sues city for releasing lurid details of resignation

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By Justin McClelland, Staff Writer Updated 7:19 AM Thursday, July 9, 2009

A female police dispatcher who resigned after being accused of having sex on the job has sued the city of Lebanon.

Rebecca Hughes, 31, of Lebanon claims in a suit filed in Warren County Common Pleas Court the city violated the terms of her resignation by disclosing to the public the circumstances surrounding it. Hughes said Lebanon attorney Mark Yurick was not supposed to share with the media the accusations of misconduct, namely an alleged tryst with her boyfriend while on the job, that led to her resignation.

City Manager Pat Clements would not comment on the suit directly but said, “To the best of my knowledge, the city has not violated any of the terms or conditions of Ms. Hughes’s separation agreement.” Yurick did not immediately return a phone call.

Randolph Freking, Hughes’s attorney, said the issue was “as clear a contract violation as you can imagine.”

“It’s disappointing a public employee would do this,” Freking said.

Freking said Hughes “vigorously denied” the allegations but decided to take a settlement instead of publicly fighting the charges as long as the city did not disclose the circumstances surrounding it.

“Now, Ms. Hughes is having trouble finding a job because of the allegations,” Freking said. “The whole point was to allow her to move on and (the city) sidetracked that possibility.”

Hughes resigned March 13 after a supervisor walked in on her several weeks earlier allegedly engaging in oral sex with her boyfriend while working in the dispatch center, according to Yurick. According to a report from Sgt. Jeff Mitchell, Hughes claimed she and her boyfriend were attempting to play a prank on their friend by pretending to engage in oral sex when he left the dispatch area to use the restroom.

Shift Supervisor Rob Buchanan had been working in the property room when he heard an announcement on the intercom and entered the dispatch area to find Hughes and her boyfriend engaged in the sex act.

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4544 or jmcclelland@coxohio.com.

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