Jeanette Bent
Disclaimer: There is strong, explicit sexual language quoted from the complaint below. The full court document is embedded at the bottom of this article.
MONTEREY COUNY, Calif. (KION-TV) — The Monterey County Superior Court reported a lawsuit against the County of Monterey Friday, claiming an alleged sexual harassment and discrimination case against a former deputy and a current captain with the Sheriff’s Office.
According to court documents, the plaintiff worked for the County of Monterey since 2014, having held roles within crisis negotiations, search and rescue, defense tactics, first aid, jail operations, recruitment, and the collision committee.
The allegations state that the defendant, retired Sergeant Michael Smith’s, “behavior escalated from unprofessional/inappropriate to blatant, severe sexual harassment and overt gender discrimination,” citing an approximate four-year timeframe (2019 until 2023).
Screenshot from page 5 of the complaint
“Mike would tell plaintiff that she was a ‘whore’ and that it was okay ‘because all women are whores, just some more than others,'” according to the compliant. The compliant states: “Mike routinely objectified and sexualized plaintiff and spoke about her physical appearance on a regular basis.”
Screenshot from page 6 of the complaint
Screenshot from page 6 of the complaint
Among these, two explicit examples referenced in the court document stated inappropriate comments to the plaintiff as well as attempts to sexually engage with Smith.
In the document, it was stated that the Smith made “fairy dust” jokes referencing the plaintiff’s genitalia, stating that he “told the whole investigations unit that plaintiff has ‘fairy dust coming out of her vagina,’ that ‘her vagina is magical’ and that every man who experiences it seems to be under her magical spell.”
The plaintiff saying that he sent “group messages with ‘tinker bell’ waving a wand that releases fairy dust.”
Screenshot from page 10 of the complaint
The second example, as outlined in the court document, refers to a “snake shirt” incident:
“Plaintiff was in court to testify for a case on a Friday, and she wore a grey suit with a grey snake print shirt underneath. On Monday, when plaintiff returned to work, Mike said suggestively, ‘You wore my favorite shirt and you didn’t let me see it.’ Plaintiff responded that she didn’t know what he was talking about, and he said, ‘You know which shirt… The snake shirt.’ Plaintiff was surprised and bothered that Mike knew what she wore to court days before, and asked how he knew. She felt like he was stalking her.”
Screenshot from page 10 and 11 of complaint
In addition to this, the court documents reported that not only was the plaintiff being harassed by the Michael Smith, but also his wife Rebecca Smith and a captain at the sheriff’s office. Rebecca Smith is named as the second defendant in this case.
The document outlining multiple alleged instances throughout the four-year period where the husband-wife defendants reportedly harassed, discriminated and retaliated professionally, including throughout the duration of the plaintiff’s two pregnancies.
During one instance, the document outlined an alleged deliberate request from Michael Smith over sexual intercourse:
“Mike cut her off and said, ‘Are we going to fuck after this?’ Plaintiff asked what he meant, he repeated, ‘Are we fucking or not? Because if you aren’t going to fuck me, I really don’t care to know anything about you.’ She asked if he was serious and he responded yes.”
Screenshot from page 11 of the complaint
The court documents stating that tensions continued to escalate until the plaintiff claimed that she felt physically unsafe in the presence of Michael Smith.
“Plaintiff was frightened and began to cry,” according to the document. “She was afraid that her partners had left her alone with Mike when he was that angry.”
Screenshot from page 17 of the complaint
In June 2024, Sheriff Nieto’s response to altercations between the Smiths and the plaintiff were met with indifference. She said that after meeting with the Sheriff regarding a locker issue, she decided to relocate, saying that Sheriff Nieto responded with:
“Good because I don’t want to hear any of that drama. I don’t care if someone doesn’t like you or if you don’t like someone, that’s not something I’m going to spend time resolving.”
Screenshot from page 23 of the complaint
These allegations continued throughout 2024, the document stating that the “plaintiff is informed and believes that the MCSO took no actions to investigate her complaints of sexual harassment and retaliation, or to prevent further harassment or retaliation.”
Screenshot from page 24 of the complaint
The plaintiff, claiming that by the time it got to August 2024, she had experienced “severe emotional distress with catastrophic consequences for her mental and physical health. She has been enduring Mike and Rebecca’s torment since 2019, and despite reporting the harassment, discrimination, and retaliation, she knows that MCSO did nothing to stop Mike and Rebecca’s behavior. Respondent did nothing to protect plaintiff from unlawful, severe and pervasive harassment discrimination, and retaliation.”
Screenshot from page 26 of the complaint
Finally, at the beginning of 2025 and after being denied an interview for a new professional position after allegedly being the only candidate, the plaintiff took action against the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office by filing a lawsuit with six claims.
The claims are for sexual harassment; sex discrimination; failure to investigate and prevent harassment and discrimination; intentional infliction of emotional distress; and two counts of retaliation. The plaintiffs attorney is demanding a jury trial, damages, and individual action.
KION has reached out to the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office for comment, but they declined to respond.
The full court document:
MCSO LAWSUITDownload
Click here to follow the original article.
Different age-progressed sketches and images of Christopher Abeyta. 
