Former deputy files

second civil suit
By Melanie Marshall

Former Watauga County sheriff’s chief deputy Paula Townsend filed a suit in district civil court on Tuesday against former sheriff Mark Shook and Western Surety Company.

The lawsuit alleges sex discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful termination and disparate treatment in the terms of conditions of her employment.

Townsend is seeking compensatory damages for pecuniary losses, emotional pain, mental anguish and attorney’s fees and costs associated with the court actions. Punitive damages, back pay with prejudgment interest, and the affirmative relief necessary to eradicate the effects of the unlawful are also being sought.

The initial complaint filed requests a jury trial.

Western Surety Company is named in the suit because Shook was insured, through a policy held by the county, at the time of his term as sheriff.

Shook served as a sheriff from 2002 to 2006, and had been employed at Watauga County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) since 1995 prior to his election. From 1985 to 1995 Shook served with the Boone Police Department.

Townsend began her employment at the WCSO in 1986. In 1998, she was promoted to chief deputy in 1998 by then sheriff Red Lyons.

According to the complaint document, Townsend alleges Shook attempted to pursue an intimate relationship with her beginning in December 2002, which she alleges she informed Shook she was not interested in pursuing.

Townsend asserts that the advances continued through 2005, including having been touched inappropriately.

The complaint further alleges that as Townsend declined the advances, her work conditions were negatively altered, including decreases in responsibility and authority as chief deputy, derogatory comments made by Shook to other male deputies and excluding her from staff meetings. Townsend’s employment was terminated in July 2005.

Shook has not yet filed an answer to the complaint.

This is the second lawsuit filed by Townsend against Shook and the insurance company. The first was filed federally in June 2006 and also named Watauga County as a defendant. That suit was dismissed in federal court in September 2007.

The first lawsuit also claimed sex discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful termination and disparate treatment.

The dismissal documents regarding wrongful termination reads, “The Title VII claims are dismissed without prejudice as to bringing a claim under the GERA [Government Employee Rights Act].” The GERA states an individual has the right to file a claim within 180 days of the alleged violation.

The claim of termination based on the sex of the employee was “dismissed with prejudice for failure to state a claim cognizable as a matter of state law.”

The claim against Watauga County for “negligent supervision and retention of sheriff Mark Shook” was dismissed on the basis that an elected sheriff is not an agent or employee of a county. It is well established that a county has neither the legal obligation nor duty to supervise a sheriff.