Oswego Resident Alleges Sexual Harassment Against Common Councilor, Editor

by Steve Yablonski | November 27, 2017 10:14 pm

OSWEGO – Carol Thompson, a former local reporter, attempted to speak Monday night at the Common Council’s public session. She was shut down by the City Attorney Kevin Caraccioli; her comments, he ruled, violated the guidelines for speaking at the public session. It constituted a ‘personal attack,’ he said.

“A personal attack? Really?” she exclaimed.

According to Thompson, a homeowner in the Fifth Ward, earlier this spring she received an audio recording of portions of a conversation between Fifth Ward Councilor John Gosek Jr. and Lou Sorendo, associate editor at Local News, Inc. (Oswego County Business Magazine).

Thompson has been a freelance contributor to the business magazine.

“I am advising my clients, collectively, not to engage in a debate because, frankly, it’s not the proper forum for doing something like that,” Caraccioli explained.

“I feel the public has the right to know,” Thompson replied. “(Gosek Jr.) never apologized to me. He could have and he should have. We need to return integrity to this council.”

The sexually explicit recording was sent to her via Facebook messenger, Thompson told the council as she began to play the one minute, five second recording into the record. She didn’t play the entire message.

In the recording two voices can be heard discussing whether they would have sexual intercourse with Thompson. At one point, someone says ‘put a bag over her face’ and later ‘put a flag over her face and do it for your country.’ She is also referred to as ‘poison.’ One of the voices says, ‘I think I’d rather do her daughter.’

“I ask Mr. Gosek to put in his resignation letter and do it for our city,” she told Oswego County Today.

“There are five councilors leaving (at the end of the year). In my opinion, there should be six,” she said. “Mr. Gosek cannot deny they are his words as Mr. Sorendo identified Mr. Gosek as the other speaker in legal documents submitted to the state Division of Human Rights and the EEOC. According to Mr. Sorendo, this recording was made and sent from the home of Mr. Gosek.”

It wasn’t easy coming forward, Thompson said. The whole ordeal has made her physically ill, she said, adding that she suffers from insomnia, migraines and stomach ailments, “not to mention the emotional and mental impact. It is hurtful, degrading and disgusting.”

Caraccioli confirmed that Thompson has filed a notice of claim against the city. There is no formal lawsuit as of yet, he added.

“She did file a notice of claim. It’s been a while now, several months. It was on May 9. There’s just not a whole lot I can say about it,” he told Oswego County Today. “Any claim filed against the city of Oswego we take seriously. Our insurance carriers investigate these claims. The nature of this claim, as I see it, alleges that the city of Oswego is somehow liable for the conduct of another.”

“I’m not going to comment for the time being until after (the city attorney) says it’s OK. Until then, I’ll defer to him,” Gosek Jr. said following the meeting. “I can say one thing. There is no truth to it whatsoever. I never harassed anybody!”

In a letter obtained by Thompson, Sorendo said he “inadvertently ‘butt dialed’ Carol Thompson from my cell phone twice.”

He told Oswego County Today that he didn’t realize the messages had been sent until later that same morning.

“I am sorry for the embarrassing mistake, but also maintain that in no way, shape or form was there intent to sexually harass Ms. Thompson. I’ve always had the utmost respect for her as a journalist and have never had a conflict with her in the past,” he said.

In a statement to Oswego County Today, he reiterated, “I have a high level of respect for Carol and would never intentionally or maliciously hurt her in any way shape or form.”

Source URL: https://oswegocountytoday.com/news/oswego/oswego-resident-alleges-sexual-harassment-against-common-councilor-editor/

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