A former cadet has filed a lawsuit against Washington’s police academy, alleging that an instructor, a Federal Way police officer, sexually harassed her and another female cadet in 2022.
Everett police Officer Kaitlyn Ricksecker alleged in the lawsuit that Richard “Rick” Klein repeatedly used his position of authority as an instructor to sexually harass and touch her while she attended mandatory training at the academy between September and November 2022.
Ricksecker’s complaint, filed Friday in King County Superior Court, is at least the second sexual harassment lawsuit since October filed against the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission by a former female cadet.
Snohomish County sheriff’s Deputy Haydyn Wagner and Port Orchard police Officer Aimee Allen sued the academy on Oct. 13, alleging it had failed to protect them and four other female cadets from months of sexual harassment by their instructor, former Port of Seattle police Officer LeLand Allen.
Klein and Allen both face possible decertification, records show. Klein is scheduled to have a decertification hearing on Aug. 26 and Allen is still being investigated, according to Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission spokesperson Megan Saunders.
Saunders declined a request for an interview Wednesday citing pending litigation.
Klein also declined to be interviewed Wednesday, deferring questions to the Federal Way city attorney.
The city of Federal Way said it “fully supports and stands by” Klein in a statement Wednesday. “Officer Klein was at the academy to teach recruits, and he did so in accordance with his training and experience,” the statement read. “While we will not litigate this case in the newspaper, we stand by Officer Klein 100 percent.”
Ricksecker alleges Klein violated the Federal Way Police Department’s code of conduct and state law protecting people against sexual harassment by public employees. She also accused the academy and Federal Way police of failing their duty to hire and retain supervisors who don’t “present a danger to others.”
Klein allegedly used his baton to repeatedly touch Ricksecker’s breasts and groped her buttocks while demonstrating a search to other cadets. In another exercise, Klein allegedly ordered Ricksecker and another female cadet to turn around, said, “Now that’s an ass,” then used his baton to repeatedly jiggle Ricksecker’s butt, the complaint states.
Ricksecker said she felt humiliated by Klein’s alleged behavior, but worried reporting it could cause Klein to fail her from the academy, and cost her job, according to the complaint. Wagner and Aimee Allen also feared retaliation and waited until after they graduated from the academy in February 2022 to report their instructor, their October complaint shows.
“This is clearly a pervasive problem,” said Ricksecker’s attorney, Debbie Silberman, who also represents Wagner and Aimee Allen in their lawsuit. “This is not just about one single woman — this is about woman after woman who are coming forward who have courageously chosen to serve in law enforcement only to face sexual harassment during the training for their job.”
Wagner accuses LeLand Allen in the complaint of approaching her during a training exercise, sliding his hands inside tears in her jeans and asking if his hands were cold. Aimee Allen alleges the instructor told her she had “nice legs,” and the next day, tapped her butt “in a scooping manner” and said, “atta girl,” according to the lawsuit.
LeLand Allen denied any sexual context to his behavior and said his actions were misunderstood or misinterpreted, according to an independent investigation by Northwest Workplace Law and referenced in the complaint.
Ricksecker declined an interview Wednesday, but said through her attorney, Silberman, that her lawsuit was important to advocate for “a fundamental change in how female law enforcement officers are treated in their training and beyond.”
“If it’s happening to [Ricksecker, Wagner and Aimee Allen], it’s probably happening to other women,” Silberman said. “They’re not just pursuing this for themselves, but for all the women who are going through the training commission.”