MANVILLE, N.J. (WCBS 880) -- A New Jersey police chief has been placed on temporary leave after a civil lawsuit by an employee alleges that she was repeatedly sexually assaulted at work then raped at her home, authorities said.
According to the 32-page civil suit, Police Chief of the Manville Police Department Thomas J. Herbst is accused of masturbating in front of the woman, raping her 10 times in the police archive room at the police department and touching her inappropriately during a “prolonged pattern and practice of abhorrent sexual harassment” over 13 years.
Herbst is also accused of later raping the woman at her home on a regular basis and also in a hotel parking lot during her lunch hour, the lawsuit alleges.
The suit prompted an emergency meeting of the Manville Borough Council on Thursday and unanimously voted to place Herbst on paid temporary administrative leave, an attorney for Manville said.
"The Manville mayor and council were both shocked and surprised by the civil action which was recently filed against the police department and the borough," Franklin Whittlesey, the borough’s labor counsel said. "The officers involved in these allegations have been placed on temporary administrative leave with pay."
Whittlesey added that the woman is also on paid administrative leave from the police department after “a decision that was made with input from her and attorneys to give the investigation time to play out.”
Court papers said that the woman said she was a single mother at the time the alleged assaults began and she feared losing her job at the police department if the misconduct was reported.
She “feared retaliation from Herbst if she reported his conduct, and she also suspected that, if she did report it, he would deny the entire incident or claim that his one-sided self-gratifying sexual conduct was consensual,” the lawsuit added.
Three Manville officers were allegedly present when one jokingly pointed a shotgun at her earlier this month after the chief said that he wanted her to leave the department because he disliked her.
“The Manville Police Department is presently under the supervision of Manville Police Lt. Craig Jeremiah as temporary Officer-In-Charge of the department, pending input from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office as that office continues its investigation of the allegations,” Whittlesey said.
Herbst has worked for the department for 30 years and was sworn in as chief in 2020.
The lawsuit said the woman began working at the Manville Police Department in 2000 and Herbst became her supervisor in 2005.
She alleges that the sexual misconduct began in 2008, after she was given a private office near Herbst's office.
The woman is asking for a jury trial and seeking an unspecified amount of damages, including money for back pay, future pay, pain and suffering, severe emotional distress, and psychological injury.
Herbst didn't respond to requests for comment made by NJ.com
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