During the public participation segment of the Lehigh Township Supervisors meeting last week, people wanted to know about the settlement sexual harassment lawsuit against Chief Scott Fogel.

Katherine Mac-Perich, a resident who attended the meeting, asked the township solicitor, “How much will the tax payers have to pay for the settlement against Chief Fogel?”

Attorney David Backenstoe replied, “I cannot comment because I was not there. The attorney for the Insurance Company was.”

Former Lehigh Township police officer Jessica Edwards filed a federal lawsuit alleging the department’s chief sexually harassed her, physically accosted her and retaliated against her over the course of her five-year employment.

According to paperwork filed in U.S. District Court, the case filed by Edwards was dismissed on Feb. 23 due to the settlement, details of which have not been released to the public.

Lehigh Township responded to a Times News Right To Know request on March 4 stating “there currently is no signed settlement between Lehigh Township and/or its police department with Jessica Edwards at this time.”

In a complaint filed in June, an attorney for Edwards said she was “singled out and persistently disparaged, belittled, sexually objectified and insulted by Police Chief Scott Fogel.”

“She was physically accosted by him, denied opportunities for professional development and growth, retaliated against for complaining of mistreatment and ultimately placed in such a hostile, toxic and intolerable work environment that she was forced to resign for her own well-being,” Edwards’ attorney, Ryan Corkery of Ansa Assuncao LLP, wrote.

The lawsuit named both Fogel and the Lehigh Township Police Department.

Edwards was hired by the department in February 2018. The complaint alleged Fogel questioned whether Edwards was having a sexual relationship with another officer, made sexualized comments about her social media activity and, in a meeting alone with her, pulled up his shirt to expose his “stomach, naval, nipples and chest” to her.

Edwards also alleged that during the winter of 2020, Fogel “approached her from behind, gripped her hair, and forcefully snapped her head back, pulling her toward the midsection of his body and torso.”

A similar incident happened in a Lehigh Township parking garage in December 2020, the complaint states, and a police sergeant made an official report to the township.

“The township took no meaningful action to investigate the incident, discipline Fogel, deliver remedial education and/or training to Fogel regarding appropriate boundaries, or render any support or assistance to Edwards,” the complaint states.

Edwards alleges that after the issues were brought to the attention of the township, Fogel “became emboldened and commenced a campaign of retaliation” including demanding privileged medical information when she was late for a training event following a medical emergency involving her daughter.

In April 2022, Edwards filed a complaint against the police department, Lehigh Township and Fogel with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

She resigned from the department on June 1, 2023.

The lawsuit included multiple counts of sexual harassment as well as battery, defamation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Jarrad Hedes contributed to this report

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