Poleway Still on Payroll

Why did Larchmont hire a new Police Chief who is now under a cloud of sexual harassment allegations made against his former department, the Greenburgh Police Department?

Larchmont’s new Police Chief, Chris McNerney, was Chief in nearby Greenburgh when a sexual harassment lawsuit was filed against the department he led by a female Greenburgh Police officer, Kristin Stein, and allegations were made by other female officers.

Stein filed a 42-page complaint against the department, 15 of its members and the town.

Westchester District Attorney Mimi Rocah’s office is now investigating the Greenburgh Police Department, according to sources.

Vince Toomey, an attorney representing Larchmont Village, told theLoop the Village Board knew about the Greenburgh lawsuit before they hired McNerney, and met with him to discuss it.

Stein’s lawsuit claims that she was sexually harassed by Officer Jeff Cerone in 2019, in an incident which was partially caught on video tape in the Greenburgh Police headquarters. Officer Stein was leaning over a table to collect pamphlets when police officer Jeff Cerone, “grinded against her rear, rammed himself into her backside with his genitals, then threw her towards the middle of the room,” according to the lawsuit.

Stein’s brother, who was also a Greenburgh cop, was later forced to transfer due to the harassment both he and his sister were receiving, the suit alleges.

The body cam footage was taped by a police officer who had mistakenly turned it on during roll call.

Stein’s sexual harassment allegedly got worse when the male officers found out that she was bi-sexual.

“At first, I was retaliated against because I was a woman, but it became a more hostile work environment once they found out that I had a girlfriend,” Stein told the Yonkers Times.

In the meantime, former Larchmont Police Chief John Poleway is still on the payroll until the end of the year; his contract ended May 31, 2021 and was not renewed, but the Village extended it until the end of the year. Both Chiefs will be on the payroll during the month of December, though Poleway is not physically on the job in police headquarters.

The Larchmont Police Department has been run since Sept. 1 by the department’s two lieutenants, Juan Sanchez and Ronald Knudsen. Poleway has been relegated to an empty office on the top floor at Village Hall.

Poleway was on the job when Police Officer Michael Walsh was accidentally tased in the face in 2016, as reported by theLoop this week.

Numerous other incidents of “inappropriate texts, comments, sexual jokes, remarks, sexual solicitations, negative work assignments, silent treatment, uninvited sexual attention, and displaying pornographic photos,” are all alleged in the Greenburgh suit, filed in Federal Court in White Plains this year.