TRENTON >> A Bo Robinson chef was apparently serving up something creepy.
According to a discrimination lawsuit, Mohamed Abdel Ghani, the then-director of food service at the Trenton halfway house, would continually sexually harass a female co-worker, whose repeated complaints to management were ignored.
“Defendant Abdel Ghani noticed that Plaintiff was taking a tampon out of her purse,” the victim’s attorney, Christian McOmber, wrote in the complaint. “Upon seeing the tampon, Defendant Abdel Ghani approached Plaintiff and pulled up Plaintiff’s skirt in an attempt to confirm if she was menstruating.”
Abdel Ghani also allegedly subjected the victim, who was the food service manager, to inappropriate touching, groping, hugging and kissing.
“Defendant Abdel Ghani would regularly stare at the Plaintiff’s chest and body, as well as inappropriately comment on Plaintiff’s body and dress,” the lawsuit claims.
In addition to professing, “I f***ing love you,” Abdel Ghani attempted to control the victim in a “possessive and inappropriate manner” by forcing her to delete pictures on Facebook, the lawsuit reads. One of the alleged pictures was of the victim kissing her husband.
“He instructed Plaintiff to remove the Facebook posting and stood over her at a computer while he forced her to do so,” the complaint states, noting Abdel Ghani told the victim the picture was unacceptable. “Additionally, by way of example, Defendant Abdel Ghani, who was and is a Muslim, did not allow Plaintiff to eat pork products in his presence.
Abdel Ghani and the victim were both employees of Community Education Centers (CEC), the service provider at Bo Robinson.
The lawsuit documents the victim complained four times to management, three times to Joe Collier, the shift supervisor of operations, and once to director Mark Salaga, from February 2013 until June 2014.
Crying during some of the meetings, the victim told supervisors Abdel Ghani treated her “like his woman” and subjected her to repeated sexual harassment, court records detail.
The harassment allegedly continued after the first three complaints, leading to retaliatory measures such as Abdel Ghani cutting her overtime. Only after meeting with Salaga did the food service director get suspended, according to the lawsuit.
Salaga was fired in April for allegedly disposing of drugs inappropriately.
Both parities settled the lawsuit in April.
Since CEC is a private business, the terms of the settlement do not have to made public.
Attorneys for both parties declined to comment on the settlement.
“With regard to your questions about a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment by a food service staff member, we continue to deny those allegations made by the employee,” CEC spokesman Charles Seigel said in a statement. “The lawsuit was however settled out of court and there is a confidentiality agreement in place so we can not comment on the details of the allegations.”
Abdel Ghani and the victim are no longer employees at Bo Robinson.
The Trenton halfway house has been a magnet of controversy in recent months since two escaped inmates died from heroin overdoses in March.
Within the last month, two Bo Robinson employees were arrested.
Last month, a counselor at the halfway house was charged for allegedly performing unwanted oral sex on an inmate during an elevator ride.
Later that month, another employee was arrested for running over a Trenton cop’s foot trying to flee from police during a stop.
In a series of stories, The Trentonian has also documented substance abuse, protocol failures and questionable drug testing at the site.
