A five-month investigation into a worker's complaint about a "culture of bigotry" at the Gwinnett County Animal Shelter has resulted in the recent departure of three employees.
A 108-page internal affairs report obtained Thursday by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution revealed that numerous animal control officers felt the work environment was unprofessional, that supervisors played favorites with subordinates, and that they feared retaliation if they complained.
Lt. Mary Lou Respess, who was the shelter supervisor, retired in May shortly after she was reassigned to another post, according to Gwinnett police spokesman Jake Smith.
Smith said two other employees who were subjects of the investigation also resigned during the probe. One was Jason Cannon, a daytime supervisor at the shelter. Smith said Thursday he did not know the name of the other employee.
Smith said he could not comment about the investigation Thursday because he had not yet had a chance to review it.
The animal control officer who initiated the investigation, Eldred Henfield, who is black, said he had been offended by several supervisors' racially tinged comments.
Several officers spoke of being offended by an email that Respess received and read in the front office, the report said. The email made an offensive reference to first lady Michelle Obama.
In addition, multiple animal control officers interviewed said that Respess publicly disparaged employees in roll call meetings, and that she often cursed on the job.
Respess, in her interview with internal affairs, denied making disparaging remarks about employees. She recalled getting the Obama email, but said that she immediately told the sender that it was "inappropriate." Respess acknowledged she sometimes cursed in roll call meetings, but said she felt it was a safe environment where employees could vent.
The report also said it was common knowledge around the shelter that Animal Control Officer Chris Hughes, who handled adoptions, was judgmental toward visitors and sometimes contrived reasons to deny them adoptions. Visitors who wore baggy pants or sideways baseball caps especially drew her scorn, according to several employees' accounts.
Some officers who were questioned said Hughes seemed to be especially distrustful of black men and Hispanic people. Sometimes Hughes would not show them pit bulls because she assumed they were looking for fighting dogs, Henfield said.
Hughes acknowledged to investigators that she is very protective of the animals.
Respess, Hughes and Cannon could not be reached for comment late Thursday. A woman who answered the phone at Cannon's residence and said she was his mother confirmed he resigned in lieu of termination.
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