By Robert Snell
rsnell@detroitnews.com
At least four more women have complained about inappropriate behavior by Wayne County Sheriff Raphael “Ray” Washington — including peeping in an ex-wife’s window and asking a woman to bend over and flash her underwear — and taxpayers have paid as much as $85,000 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit against him.
That is according to depositions and federal court records in a sexual misconduct lawsuit filed against Washington by former sheriff’s office official Regina Parks that raise new questions about an alleged pattern of troubling behavior by the top law enforcement official in Michigan’s most populous county.
The documents include one deputy’s allegation that the married Washington had a reputation of being “a womanizing man whore,” offer a rare peek into the sheriff’s personnel file and portray life within the top ranks of the sheriff’s office as a soap opera set filled with lewd behavior, adultery and drunkenness.
The complaints and concerns, some of which predate Washington’s tenure at Wayne County, come from law enforcement personnel and civilians, including Washington’s former spokeswoman, WDIV-TV (Channel 4) reporter Erika Erickson, and include graphic claims. For instance, while working for the Detroit Police Department years ago, Washington was accused of placing his hand on the thigh of a subordinate officer’s girlfriend and asking her to bend over and flash her underwear, according to a transcript of the sheriff’s deposition filed Jan. 14 in federal court.
“I saw that allegation. Didn’t happen,” Washington said under oath Sept. 8. The sheriff said he believed the accuser was motivated to lie because Washington had suspended her boyfriend.
Washington denied harassing anyone.
The depositions were filed in federal court Jan. 14 when lawyers for the county and Washington asked U.S. District Judge Shalina Kumar to dismiss the civil lawsuit. The requests are pending and Parks’ lawyers are expected to respond next month.
“Our filing for summary judgment in this case speaks for itself,” sheriff’s office spokeswoman Mara MacDonald wrote in an email to The Detroit News. “The allegations are categorically false, and you may refer to the court filings for context.
“Part of being a leader is knowing that people won’t be pleased with every decision, and that hard choices have to be made,” MacDonald added. “Nobody likes firing or disciplining people, and elected leaders are always going to take heat when that’s required. We live in a litigious society; it is, unfortunately, a part of daily business. The sheriff remains focused on the agency and delivering critical services for Wayne County.”
What the lawsuit claims
Parks, the county’s former compliance officer and community outreach director, sued in February. She alleged retaliation and a pattern of sexual misconduct against her and other female employees. Parks alleged the sheriff touched and commented on her body regularly from 2021 through 2024, and she was fired after she said she recorded some of his misconduct.
Parks said Washington began harassing her and several other female employees “almost immediately upon assuming the role of sheriff” in January 2021, according to the lawsuit.
Specifically, Parks alleged that Washington touched or struck her on the buttocks several times, rubbed and touched her stomach and thighs over and under her clothing, and made lewd and sexual comments about her body. That includes saying he “didn’t know she had all that back there” and that she would look more sexually attractive if she gained weight.
Parks lost her job in November 2024 amid a department restructuring because of “her turbulent, disruptive, and offensive response to Washington’s restructuring announcement,” Maria Dwyer, the sheriff’s lawyer, wrote in a motion for summary judgment.
“Her behavior included entering the sheriff’s executive suite after the restructuring meeting — which is not her workspace — yelling profanities, pacing around the suite, and patting her vagina saying, ‘I got this, this is what I got,’” Dwyer added.
Parks denied patting her vaginal area. She said she was tapping her thigh and pants pocket, where she carried a mobile phone containing an incriminating recording of Washington, she testified.
“Did you gesture towards your crotch?” county lawyer Lina Delmastro asked.
“No,” Parks said.
“Did you pat your crotch?” the attorney asked.
“No,” Parks said.
A timeline of events indicates Parks lost her job one day after revealing that she had secretly recorded the sheriff.
Washington’s administrative assistant, Rashaun Whitehead, wrote a statement to a county human resources official on Nov. 21 — after Parks lost her job. The statement recounted a phone conversation Whitehead had with Parks on Nov. 13, 2024, hours after Parks is alleged to have patted her vaginal area in the sheriff’s executive suite.
“I have him recorded hitting on me,” Parks said during the call.
“At that point,” Whitehead wrote, “I hung up and called Sheriff Washington. I then informed the sheriff of what Regina Parks stated. The sheriff said it was not true, and we ended the conversation.”
The next day, Parks was notified that her job appointment would “expire,” on Nov. 15, according to a letter from the county that does not provide any justification.
During his deposition, Washington was asked about his 24-year tenure in the Detroit Police Department from 1985 to 2009, which included a stint as a high-ranking inspector.
“Were you investigated for any wrongdoing while you were at the DPD?” asked Parks’ lawyer, Deborah Gordon.
“I was investigated for some alleged situations,” the sheriff said.
“What were the alleged situations? Sexual harassment?” the lawyer asked.
“It was several, actually,” Washington said.
One allegation involved the girlfriend of a Detroit police officer whom Washington supervised and her visit to the police department’s offices.
“And she said that you placed your hand on her leg, later moving it up to her thigh. You recall that allegation?” Gordon asked.
“The allegation, yes,” Washington said.
“And then she said that you asked her to see her panties and asked her to bend over, and she refused,” the lawyer said.
Washington said the claim was untrue.
Washington’s ‘family situation’
“And what else were you investigated for at the DPD?” Gordon said.
“A family situation,” the sheriff said.
“And what was the family situation?” the lawyer asked. “Was this with your ex-wife?”
“Yes,” the sheriff said.
“And you were peeping into her windows, is that correct?” the lawyer asked.
“That was alleged,” Washington said. “… I was actually picking up my son.”
The ex-wife filed a police report, and DPD’s Internal Affairs unit investigated the allegation, Washington said.
“And it was found to be unfounded,” Washington said.
In a separate deposition, Delmastro, the county lawyer, questioned Parks and asked about her history of financial problems, including four bankruptcies. Under questioning, Parks said she had sexual relationships with two colleagues, including a member of the department’s executive protection unit and Michael Turner, her married boss who was the sheriff’s chief of staff.
“When you would have sexual relations with Mr. Turner,” the lawyer asked Parks on Sept. 16, “where would those occur?”
“A hotel,” Parks said, “and at my house.”
“Did they ever occur at the office?” the lawyer asked.
“Not that I recall,” Parks said.
“Don’t you think you would recall something like that?” Delmastro asked.
“I don’t remember having sex with him at the office,” Parks said.
“Is there anyone else at the county that you had a sexual relationship with?” Dwyer asked.
“No,” Parks said.
Sheriff denies making massage request
The sheriff was also asked about Lacey Polderdyke and her tenure as a Wayne County Sheriff’s deputy.
“You sought massages from her, is that correct?” Parks’ attorney asked.
“No,” Washington said.
Polderdyke filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Washington in May 2017. The lawsuit said Washington, who at the time was deputy chief of courts, “has a reputation of being a womanizing ‘man whore’ who preys upon subordinate female employees.”
The lawsuit described how Polderdyke was summoned to Washington’s office after he was relocated from Detroit to Hamtramck in 2014. Polderdyke brought a female colleague with her.
“Once they arrived, defendant Washington told Deputy Polderdyke to massage his neck because it was bothering him,” the lawsuit reads. “Rather than risk retaliation, she briefly rubbed the right side of his neck/shoulder then left the office.”
Polderdyke also described attending planning meetings with the sheriff for the funeral of a former Wayne County sheriff’s deputy in summer 2016.
“During some meetings, defendant Washington would move his chair close enough to Deputy Polderdyke so that his thigh almost touched hers,” the lawsuit alleged. “Every time he did that, she quickly moved away.”
During another planning meeting, Washington sat next to her, positioned his chair so he was facing Polderdyke and tried to talk to her. She rebuffed the sheriff once she realized he wanted to talk about non-departmental topics, according to the lawsuit.
After the meeting, Washington and a high-ranking official “confronted Polderdyke and berated her about having a ‘negative attitude’ and not being a ‘team player,’” according to the lawsuit. “Several eyewitnesses to the incident wrote letters to the Sheriff complaining of the manner in which defendants treated Deputy Polderdyke.”
At one point, Polderdyke texted Washington about a job in the court system.
“He texted back that he would add her name to the list,” the lawsuit reads, “after he got his massage.”
Polderdyke saved the text and filed it in federal court.
“Is it inappropriate for a chief to ask a subordinate — female subordinate — for a massage?” Parks’ lawyer asked the sheriff during the deposition.
“It would be,” the sheriff said.
“And you did that,” the lawyer said.
“You’ll see that it was a back-and-forth banter, laughing at each other about what we were saying,” the sheriff said.
“But it wasn’t so funny to her because she later sued you, sir,” the lawyer said. “Correct?”
“Yeah,” Washington said.
The county settled the lawsuit 14 months after Polderdyke filed a copy of the text messages.
The settlement is undisclosed in federal court records, but Wayne County Commission meeting minutes show the board approved paying as much as $85,000 to settle the Polderdyke case and a second lawsuit in August 2018.
Sheriff’s office conduct
The settlement did not halt Washington’s ascent through the ranks of the sheriff’s department.
In January 2021, less than three years after the Polderdyke settlement, Washington was selected to replace longtime Sheriff Benny Napoleon, who died of COVID-19.
Washington later hired veteran TV reporter Erika Erickson to serve as his spokeswoman from November 2021 to October 2022. At one point, a meeting was held to address Erickson’s concerns about the sheriff calling men and women “babe,” Washington testified during his deposition.
“The meeting was about, she was concerned that she wanted to look out for me,” Washington testified. “(Erickson) said, ‘Look, sometimes you say babe, but I hear you say it to other people, other men and women. I don’t think you should do that. And if it relates to me, please don’t do that.’”
During the meeting, the conversation focused on concerns that Washington ogled women.
“We were doing an interview outside with a news reporter,” Washington said. “(Erickson) said, ‘I saw you looking at this lady walking by.’ I said, ‘Erica, I look at every single person that walks by me outside.’ And … I guess it was like an ah-ha moment for her. ‘I guess you do, you’re the police.’”
Washington said he fired Erickson “not long after our meeting.”
“I had to terminate her because of her third time being publicly highly intoxicated,” Washington said. “And it was my decision to say she couldn’t be there anymore after the third time. She was arrested, as a matter of fact.”
Her LinkedIn profile says she stopped working for the county in October 2022. On Oct. 16 of that year, she was charged with operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, according to 44th District Court records in Royal Oak. Erickson pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor, was sentenced to probation and community service, and fined.
She lost her job Oct. 19, three days after the drunken-driving incident, according to a letter that makes no mention of the criminal case.
Erickson referred a call seeking comment to Gordon, her lawyer. Gordon declined comment.
An email obtained by The News from Erickson to Turner, the sheriff’s chief of staff, and Undersheriff Mike Jaafar, in July 2022, shows Erickson raising concerns about Washington’s “sexually harassing behavior.”
“I was under the impression that you both felt like it posed a problem, and still does,” Erickson wrote. “We’ve talked several times about his comments and how much I wish the best for him, this agency and the people who work for him. I do not want to cause any unnecessary stress to anyone, but I also have to look out for myself and this agency. I feel like I am carrying a burden now, alone.
“I have spoken to you both about this extensively and nothing has been resolved,” Erickson added. “I’ve been willing to overlook comments from the sheriff, like calling me Baby and Babe on numerous occasions (and as recently as Saturday) and by asking me to stay in his room in Mackinac with him several times, or asking me to wear certain clothing, etc. … I understand its campaign season and a delicate time, but I did not ask for this. I feel like I am being backed into a corner.
“I’m sincerely asking you both for your help in this matter as soon as possible,” Erickson wrote.
