Alaska Department of Transportation Commissioner Pat Kemp said in a press release late Wednesday that the hiring of former Haines Borough Police Sgt. Jason Joel was “in accordance” with state regulations and included “a proper background check.”
“The review included speaking with former employers and references… the AMHS Security Officer position… is subject to a probationary period in which the employee will be evaluated on job performance. No further action will be necessary for the hiring of this position,” Kemp said.
Former Haines Borough police dispatch supervisor Angie Goodwin, who worked with Joel from June 2009 until April 2011, last week told KHNS News that Joel had harassed her continually for about a year, including unwelcome grabbing and sexual remarks.
Goodwin said late Wednesday that no ferry officials had contacted her about her experience with Joel. She said the state would eventually regret its decision to hire him.
“In a couple years, they’re going to be sorry they hired him. Something will happen… Once he gets comfortable there… I don’t know,” Goodwin said.
In an interview Tuesday, Goodwin expanded on her remarks to KHNS. She said Joel once picked her up unexpectedly with a “fireman’s carry” in the dispatch office and on another occasion twisted her wrist with a coercive police “come-along” move. “I said to him, ‘Go ahead, break it. You’ll be out of work and I’ll get workman’s comp.’”
Goodwin said Joel would sometimes grab hold of her with a look on his face “like he was superior.”
The grabbing incidents weren’t sexual in nature, Goodwin said, but Joel’s comments were, including sharing details of his sex life.
Suzy Combest, an eight-year Haines resident who is a friend of Goodwin’s, this week said she witnessed one inappropriate remark when she brought Goodwin’s lunch to the police station.
“Angie went into the (officer’s) office and handed (Joel) a report to sign and he said, ‘Show me your boobs.’ She looked at me like, ‘Oh my God. This is what I have to deal with.’ I thought, ‘Oh, this is wrong,’” Combest said this week.
“Show me your boobs” was Joel’s “big line,” Goodwin said. “He must have said it to me hundreds of times.”
Combest said Joel’s treatment wore Goodwin down. “I would say it was serious enough. Even though she did her job excellently, she couldn’t sleep. She wasn’t eating well. That kind of stuff, physical reactions. I encouraged her to go through the chain of command, to report it. She was in fear of retribution because she needed the job. She liked the job, but not the atmosphere.”
Goodwin said she started seeing a counselor and that Joel had learned that during those sessions she’d disclosed his alleged abuse and confronted her about it.
At that point, Goodwin said that she wanted to quit, but former police chief Gary Lowe wanted to know why. She said that’s when she told him about Joel’s behavior.
Lowe first told her that Joel would be fired, Goodwin said. “On the very same day or the next day, (Lowe) came in and said, ‘Jason resigned. Now there will be no suing.’”
Joel did not respond to a request to comment on this story.