Former Britt Police Chief says he was sexually harassed by city officials

(ABC 6 News) – A little over a month ago the former chief of police in Britt, Iowa Mark Anderson filed a lawsuit against the current mayor and the city for violations of the Iowa Civil Rights Act.

The lawsuit outlines claims of sexual harassment, and now that the police chief has been fired.

In 2017, Mark Anderson was hired as a police officer for the city, before being promoted to chief in October of 2018. But, just last week, his tenure with the city ended.

Anderson filed a petition in May alleging that Mayor Ryan Arndorfer and then-councilperson Chad Luecht sexually harassed him. According to court documents, Anderson was added to a group chat with Mayor Ryan Arndorfer, council person Chad Luecht and Luecht’s husband shortly after being hired.

All four individuals identify as gay according to Mark the mayor and council person began to send “very inappropriate and sexually graphic” messages in the group chat that included sexually explicate photos and videos.

Mark claims he just laughed off the messages or changed the subject to save his professional relationship with the two.

But eventually, Mark addressed the messages with Arndorfer and Luecht.

The two elected officials began mocking Mark and continued sending inappropriate messages. The city for the most part says there is a lack of information to admit or deny these accusations but does deny that there was any mockery of Mark.

According to court documents, Arndorfer asked Mark to send a naked picture of his husband to the chat. According to Mark, he reluctantly did so because the mayor threatened to withhold resources for the police department.

Arndorfer denies this, saying he is a non-voting mayor and has no control over that.

According to the court documents Mark is accusing the city and the mayor of violating the Iowa Civil Rights Act, which includes sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation.