Former Northern California prison captain pleads no contest in harassment case

A former captain at High Desert State Prison in Northern California has pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault for groping a female colleague while on the job.

Under his plea agreement in Lassen County Superior Court, Christopher Lewis was placed on two years informal probation and will pay a fine of $1,006. He was given “time-served” credit for the one day he spent in jail when he was booked in 2018.

Lewis’ attorney, Stephen King of Susanville, said his client declined an interview because he was ready to “move on.”

But the allegations will continue to dog Lewis and his former employer, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. His alleged victim has a pending civil case in Sacramento County Superior Court.

The woman, an office technician at the prison, sued in November 2018, alleging Lewis subjected her to unwelcome hugs and inappropriate comments. She alleges he also tried to kiss her, groped her, and pulled her onto his lap. She claims that when she filed a formal complaint, she had to reduce her hours because of the stress.

When she tried to come back full time, she alleged she was subjected to “hostile behavior” including nasty looks from her superiors, who passed her up for a promotion. She alleges in her complaint that her husband, who also works at the prison, was “threatened with discipline for issues that did not involve him” after she spoke out.

Lewis resigned in October. A spokeswoman for his former agency declined to comment on the pending litigation. In court documents, the agency’s attorneys deny the allegations.

The woman’s attorney, John Winer, said the criminal penalty should have been higher. “It feels like a slap on the wrist,” Winer said.

The woman’s case came after a 2018 Sacramento Bee investigation revealed the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation had paid out more than $15 million to settle sexual harassment and abuse complaints over three years, more than any other state department.

The investigation highlighted another sexual harassment complaint at High Desert in which a woman alleged one of her supervisors engaged in unwelcome, sexually charged behavior.

Diana Bernhardt, a former office assistant at the Susanville prison, alleged that a male supervisor made unwanted sexual advances, called her and others “pissy-pants,” grabbed a co-worker’s breast in front of her and pulled down his trousers to expose his bare buttocks, bragging that he had scratches from his sexual encounters.

Bernhardt settled her case for $310,000.

But the largest settlement — $10 million — went to four young men who were in a youth correctional facility in Southern California. They accused a male staff counselor of coercing them into sex in exchange for contraband and special treatment.

A CDCR spokeswoman told The Bee that “even one harassment complaint is one too many,” and her agency encourages reporting complaints, but she said the sheer size of the department may skew the numbers. CDCR has more than 61,000 employees – about a quarter of the state’s entire executive branch.

This story was originally published August 13, 2020 at 3:51 PM.