York County sheriff denies sex discrimination, case tampering in response to lawsuit

The York County sheriff has denied lawsuit claims by a former DNA lab employee that she was subject to gender discrimination, sexual harassment and that police altered evidence in a drug case, court documents show.

York County Sheriff Kevin Tolson, through his lawyers, denies more than 140 claims made by a the former employee, Crystal Kissel, in a lawsuit filed in September.

Kissel was the technical leader at the sheriff’s office DNA lab from 2011 until she left last year.

Tolson wants the case tossed out, and has asked for Kissel to pay the sheriff’s office legal fees, court documents show.

In a response to the suit, filed by lawyers for the sheriff’s office, Tolson and the office deny all allegations made by Kissel, who has claimed that she was targeted to be fired because she voiced concerns about running a DNA profile on a suspect in a drug case, or forwarding the request to the FBI.

“Defendants further deny that the YCSO improperly altered a case file or otherwise violated federal law,” the lawsuit response states.

The suit claims Kissel was targeted by several employees. It claims she was “retaliated against” because she refused to do lab DNA testing that would have violated a suspect’s right to a fair trial.

Officers with the sheriff’s office and York County Multijurisdictional Drug Enforcement Unit sent emails to Kissel, explaining that the sample of DNA was for an unknown person and therefore eligible to be tested, documents show.

Kissel did voice her opinion about the sample, but sheriff’s officials have documentation that the case was handled properly and legitimately, the lawsuit response states.

In a story reported by The Herald last month, Kissell sued Tolson and the office, claiming her civil rights were violated.

Tolson said Kissell is a “disgruntled former employee.”

Kissel claims she was forced to resign under a threat that she was going to be fired.

Tolson also denies claims made by Kissell that she was targeted for dismissal because of her age and sex, and that she endured several harassment violations directed at her by male employees, including her supervisors.

Kissell claimed that the sex and gender discrimination came after several officers, including her supervisor, were reprimanded or fired during a sex scandal.

Kissel was unable to tell sheriff’s office staff attorney Heather Mouzon exactly how some alleged statements made her uncomfortable.

“Ms. Mouzon asked plaintiff (Kissel) ‘Uncomfortable, how?’ to which plaintiff only uttered ‘well’ and ‘ummm,’ and ‘hmmm,’ at which Ms. Mouzon finally asked in a joking manner, ‘Are you trying to tell me he touched your butt?’ to which plaintiff replied, ‘Of course not,’ ” said the response filed by Tolson’s lawyers.

Supervisors were aware that Kissell “did not always get along, or agree on crime scene procedures,” but they deny claims of inappropriate comments, the response says.

In the lawsuit, filed in late September, Kissel said she was denied training programs, deprived of supervisory duties and that her lab work was shut down. Tolson and the sheriff’s office deny all those claims, stating that lab work was halted to deal with a backlog of cases.

“Defendants expressly deny it sought to ‘shut down’ the lab,” the response states.

Kissel filed a claim of discrimination first with the the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. That agency issued a no-cause determination after finding no violations, records show.

Tolson said in a statement that he and his office “ looks forward to vigorously defending against these allegations in the appropriate forum.”

Lawyers for Tolson, the sheriff’s office and Kissel could not be reached Monday.

The case was moved from York County civil court to federal court last week, at the time of the lawsuit response, because of Kissel’s claims of federal civil rights violations. No trial date has been set.

This story was originally published November 12, 2018 at 2:33 PM with the headline "York County sheriff denies sex discrimination, case tampering in response to lawsuit."