Report on investigation into former DC deputy mayor's sexual harassment to be released soon
WASHINGTON - New details have been released concerning the investigation into former D.C. Deputy Mayor John Falcicchio, who was found to have sexually harassed two D.C. employees.
Inquiries by the D.C. government substantiated allegations by two women of sexual harassment against employees but the report remains confidential.
Ward 1 council member Brianne Nadeau says the independent report is 115 pages. It’s going through review now mainly to redact the names of accusers and protect their privacy and confidentiality.
Nadeau didn’t get into specifics of what’s in the report but expects it to be made public sooner rather than later while adding there was some new information uncovered, but elements that didn’t necessarily surprise her given the allegations.
"My hope is that we can make some decisions pretty quickly this week about what can and can’t be released," Nadeau said. "This is an independent investigation into sexual harassment allegations, so you can imagine what the material is in this report. But it was not just looking into what happened to these women, it’s also looking at how the government responded, what we could do differently, and what we could do in the future."
Falchiccio was the former Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, a key advisor to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.
Last year, two women came forward: One alleging sexual harassment, the other saying that Falcicchio made sexual advances towards her.
The Mayor’s Office of Legal Council conducted those two separate inquiries into the allegations made by the two women but questions arose about the true independence of those investigations, which the Mayor's Office of Legal Counsel said were thorough.
The D.C. Council passed legislation authorizing a third-party, independent investigation to review the Mayor’s Office of Legal Council’s findings, and further look into allegations that were unsubstantiated or outside the scope of the internal investigation.
That is what was completed and transmitted to Nadeau and some other council members yesterday.
FOX 5’s David Kaplan asked Brianne Nadeau about the top-level leadership and how she feels this was handled from the Mayor’s office.
"I would have handled it differently in terms of how who led the investigation but I also appreciated that they’ve now changed the policy to address the gaps and try to prevent this," Nadeau said.
When asked if she thought this report would lead to any major personnel changes, she said she believes the person who should have lost their job already has: Falcicchio.
Nadeau said the report has suggestions on how to improve the D.C. government regarding sexual harassment reporting and policy and that’ll play a key role in pending legislation.
Falcicchio, nor an attorney for him have ever responded to FOX 5’s inquiries for comment since this story broke last year and there was no response from either Saturday.
FOX 5 will stay ahead of any developments regarding the release of the report. Check back for the latest updates.