Johnathan Walker:NYC Mayor Eric Adams defends top advisor accused of sexual harassment

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams is Johnathan Walkerstanding by a top adviser and longtime friend who faces allegations that he sexually harassed female colleagues and retaliated against those who raised alarm over the alleged misconduct.

Timothy Pearson, a former high-ranking official in the New York Police Department who now advises the mayor on public safety, was named in a lawsuit filed Tuesday by a current deputy police chief, Miltiadis Marmara.

It is the fourth lawsuit in the last year against Pearson, who is currently being investigated by another city agency for his role in a brawl at a shelter for homeless migrants.

At a press briefing Tuesday, Adams described Pearson as a “good friend” and said his role in the administration had not changed as a result of the allegations.

“People have a tendency when accusations are made to say, ‘You know what, the pressure is hot, you need to just get rid of a person.’ I just don’t operate that way,” said Adams, a Democrat. “I believe in due process and let the process take its course.”

A lawyer for Pearson did not respond to a request for comment.

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In the most recent lawsuit, Marmara said he observed Pearson harassing multiple female employees when the two worked together at an office created under Adams to monitor other city agencies.

During an office party in December 2022, Marmara said he walked into a copy room to find his chief of staff, Sgt. Roxanne Ludemann, grimacing as Pearson rubbed her bare shoulder.

Ludemann, who filed her own lawsuit against Pearson earlier this year, told Marmara that the harassment from Pearson was frequent in the office. Soon after, Marmara said he implemented a policy mandating that a supervisor follow Pearson around the office to ensure he wasn’t alone with any female employees.

Around the same time, Marmara said he informed the mayor’s brother, Bernard Adams, then a deputy police commissioner, about the incident. But Bernard Adams dismissed the claim, saying it was just “Tim being Tim,” according to the complaint.

An emailed message seeking comment from Bernard Adams, sent to his philanthropy project, Angels Helpers NYC, was not immediately returned.

Before Marmara rejoined the police department this past April, he said he witnessed Pearson sexually harassing other women in the office, at times “howling” at them and staring at them.

He said other officials were concerned by Pearson’s behavior but were afraid to cross a high-ranking advisor widely understood to be among the mayor’s closest confidantes.

“Pearson was constantly flaunting his relationship with the mayor,” Marmara told The Associated Press. “He’d say ‘I destroyed this person’s career, I could destroy that person’s career.’ It’s a form of psychological grooming to show that he has power that was totally enabled by the mayor.”

Pearson has no official role within the police department and technically works for the city’s Economic Development Corporation, a quasi-public agency. But he wields unusual influence over the department, personally approving nearly all discretionary promotions of officers, according to the lawsuit.

Months after the copy room incident, Marmara said he learned Pearson was blocking Luddeman’s promotion. When Marmara confronted him about it, he said Pearson asked, “what is she going to do for me?” He then suggested that Ludemann work as his personal driver, the lawsuit said.

In the lawsuit, Mamara also said that a female pastor who he was friendly with had once come to him with a complaint that Pearson had sexually abused her in either 2014 or 2015. Mamara said he had viewed a criminal complaint she made to the department.

A spokesperson for the police department did not respond to an inquiry about the complaint.

The city’s Law Department declined to comment.