Former Shelton cop settles First Amendment lawsuit against police chief, city

Brian Gioiele, Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.Journal Inquirer

SHELTON — The city has reached an agreement with a former police officer to settle a federal lawsuit she had filed against the city last year.

The Board of Aldermen, at its meeting Wednesday, approved a $225,000 settlement with the former officer, Victoria Loris, who claimed in the suit that Police Chief Shawn Sequeira forced her to retire because she testified before a state labor board.

“It has become cheaper to settle than to litigate,” Lauretti told CT Insider.

Lauretti said the city’s insurance company, which will cover the $225,000, called for a settlement.

“She is satisfied with the settlement and happy to put the SPD behind her as well as her family,” said attorney Michelle Holmes, who represents Loris.

“For my part, I hope that Lauretti and Sequeira received the resounding message that you cannot retaliate against an employee or a Shelton resident for exercising their First Amendment rights,” Holmes added. “If not, then Shelton employees and constituents know where to find me.”

Loris was hired in late 2015, earning positive performance evaluations and was “considered by her superiors as a very good employee with no discipline,” according to the nine-page lawsuit filed last year in U.S. District Court.

But in 2020, Loris became involved in a bitter dispute between the police union and Sequeira that escalated with the closure of the locker rooms at the police station due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the locker rooms closed, officers, including Loris, began changing in and out of their uniforms in the department’s parking lot, documenting their work conditions by taking pictures. One picture depicting her changing in the parking lot was posted on the Facebook page of the union’s business representative.

That prompted Sequeira to launch an internal investigation into what he called “possible indecent exposure” in the pictures. As a result of the probe, the chief fired several officers for allegedly staging the photos and lying during the internal investigation, which led to a hearing before the state labor board for which Loris was subpoenaed to testify, according to the lawsuit.

“The Plaintiff provided her accounting of the unbearable working conditions caused by the closure of the bathrooms and locker rooms as well as having no viable place to change in or out of her uniform other than the police department parking lot,” the lawsuit says. “She also testified among other things that she did not know Officer Loris was taking her picture but that she approved of him provided it to the union.”

The lawsuit says Loris' testimony prompted the chief to launch an internal affairs investigation and transfer her to the records division, depriving her of overtime and extra-duty assignments available to patrol officers.

“It is well known in the department that being transferred to records is a punishment,” the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages as well as court costs and attorney’s fees, says.

Loris went on maternity leave five months later and returned to work — and the patrol division — in January 2024. But the lawsuit says she was “interrogated” by a lawyer hired by the city to conduct the internal affairs investigation and subjected to the “purely baseless” allegation that she lied about having to change in the parking lot. When the lawyer submitted a report exonerating Loris, the lawsuit says, Sequeira made the attorney interview her again.

“The questioning was tantamount to harassment and was patently frivolous,” the lawsuit, which claims the chief violated Loris' First Amendment right to free speech, says.

Loris' lawsuit claims that the investigation into her was spurred on by a trial last spring over a lawsuit filed by several of the officers Sequeira had fired in 2020. The officers, represented in the case by Holmes, won a $2.7 million verdict from a federal jury. The city initially vowed to appeal but settled the lawsuit for $4.9 million, which included lost wages, retirement and attorney’s fees, last year.

Loris was never made aware of what was going on with the internal investigation until June 2024, and only after “repeated inquiries,” the lawsuit says, claiming that her working conditions were so intolerable that she had to leave the department two months later.

“Due to constant harassment, bullying, and attacks taken by Defendant Shawn Sequeira, the Plaintiff was forced to retire from her position with the Shelton Police Department on August 22, 2024,” the lawsuit says. “The Plaintiff could no longer handle the emotional upheaval and distress she suffered, including having to see clinicians, that was caused by the Defendant.”

As a result, the lawsuit says Loris suffered reputational and emotional injury, loss of career and promotional opportunities, salary loss and other economic damages.

Includes prior reporting by staff writer Ethan Fry.