Employee alleges former Evansville fire chief Mike Connelly filmed her without her consent

EVANSVILLE — Former Mayor Lloyd Winnecke's administration refused to divulge the reason ex-Evansville fire chief Mike Connelly abruptly retired in September, but documents obtained by the Courier & Press show Connelly had been accused of filming a female subordinate without her knowledge.

The Evansville Fire Department's new chief, Tony Knight, confirmed during an interview Monday that the allegations were "credible" and violated the department's sexual harassment policy. No criminal or civil charges have been filed against Connelly.

In September, Winnecke wouldn't say why Connelly, who had served as fire chief for more than a decade, raced home from a conference in Indianapolis to learn he could be fired or retire. Connelly chose retirement, retaining benefits. Knight and others at the EFD said they were blindsided by his abrupt departure.

For six months, neither Winnecke nor his aides told the public that Connelly’s resignation came after what the subordinate, a woman who the Courier & Press is not naming because of the nature of the incident, described in a memo to the city's human resources department as "sexual harassment incidents."

“I felt abandoned by the city,” the woman told the Courier & Press. “I felt like I was on my own. I was put on administrative leave because I was so upset.”

The Courier & Press left a message Monday on Connelly's voicemail and reached out via text seeking a response to the allegations. Connelly called a reporter back and left a message that night, but when the Courier & Press reached out again, it got no response.

The Courier & Press based its reporting for this story on interviews with Connelly's subordinate, who described herself as "a victim," as well as interviews with officials and reviews of city human resources documents obtained by reporters. The subordinate said allegations were known within Winnecke's administration weeks before the Republican mayor's chosen would-be successor, Natalie Rascher, faced voters in a make-or-break election.

Current Mayor Stephanie Terry confirmed via spokesman Joe Atkinson that she was made aware of the allegations in the last few weeks. Knight said he first learned of them in February.

In response to a reporter's questions, Atkinson said, "Mayor Terry certainly supports the employee's right to tell their story." Concerning potential action by the city, Atkinson said it would not be appropriate to comment on personnel matters.

On Monday, Winnecke confirmed to the Courier & Press that he knew about the allegations too, and that his administration conducted an investigation after learning of the accusations. Connelly's personnel files, however, don't contain any disciplinary records, former city attorney Marco DeLucio said in response to a Courier & Press records request earlier this year.

The woman said she knew little about the investigation Winnecke described, saying she was never formally interviewed. Nor was she aware of human resources interviewing Connelly or potential witnesses.

Connelly's ultimatum for retirement, Winnecke said, was part of his administration's effort to do "everything we needed to do to protect the employee who expressed the concern – the allegation, rather.”

And why did the administration choose to keep the reason for Connelly's departure private?

"The decision we made was based on how we felt the employee who made the allegation wanted it," he said.

That came as a shock to the employee. "I never talked to him," she said. "I have no idea what he's talking about."

Connelly allegedly set up cellphone to film subordinate

The woman said that in October 2022, she noticed Connelly’s cellphone placed in an awkward position in an office, with the phone's camera pointing straight at her. The woman asked Connelly why the phone seemed to be recording her, and Connelly reportedly said he was trying to record their meetings and conversations for posterity.

The woman said she told Connelly to never film her again, and that it made her uncomfortable.

"He said he wouldn't do it anymore," the woman's filing to the human resources department states. "He then went to his office and moved his phone off his desk. Later he approached me and thanked me for coming to him about the phone instead of the City."

In September 2023, the filming allegedly happened again. This time, the woman claimed to have noticed Connelly’s cellphone camera peeking through a bookshelf adjacent to where she sat. When the woman confronted Connelly, she said the chief held his head in his hands and said, “I’m sorry.”

That’s according to a memo the woman wrote on Evansville Fire Department letterhead and delivered to human resources officials on Sept. 12, two days before Connelly resigned, then retired. The subject line of the memo reads "sexual harrassment incidents."

The incidents, and the act of confronting Connelly, left the veteran EFD employee feeling what she described as fear. She said she went to Assistant Chief Paul Anslinger’s office, and he vowed to confront Connelly. But it was Connelly who requested to have a meeting with Anslinger and the employee, according to the memo.

"Chief Anslinger and I sat on one side of the table and Chief Connelly sat on the other side," the woman wrote in her memo to HR. "I told him to stop lying and tell the damn truth because he is insulting me and my intelligence. He hung his head and said I was right."

The woman said in her memo to HR that Connelly admitted he had secretly filmed her because he felt attracted to her and liked the way she dressed. When asked, Connelly reportedly admitted that the employee had given him no indication their relationship could evolve beyond that of a supervisor and employee, the memo states.

When Connelly reportedly made the comments about the employee's attire, she was stunned.

"I felt I was being sexually harassed at that moment because he kept telling me about how I dress and how attractive I am," the woman stated in the HR memo.

Documents and information obtained from interviews show officials in the Winnecke administration knew about the allegations against Connelly but stopped short of firing him, instead allowing him to resign. Connelly currently serves on an elite firefighting board and serves as a peer mentor.

The woman who claims Connelly harassed her said she fears women could face risks they are not aware of. The woman said she has started therapy and is on anxiety medication due to struggling to cope with the fallout from what she said she endured.

She told the Courier & Press her stomach churns when she drives near the fire department's downtown headquarters.

Because the findings of any investigation were never made public, the woman said she is unsure whether the videos of her still exist.

"I feel my career is over," she wrote to the city's human resources department. "My family is outraged that this happened to me ... I cannot work or live like this."

She expressed dismay this week when Winnecke said he decided to keep the employee's allegations hidden from public view because she believes the city could have addressed the issue without violating her privacy.

Abrupt resignation, silence from Winnecke administration

The woman’s account comes more than six months after Connelly abruptly resigned with no explanation.

His resignation meant changes to one of the most high-profile, appointed positions in the city mere months before a new administration would take over. In 2023, Connelly took in a six-figure salary of $123,690.46.

He ended his tenure via a short letter to the city of Evansville’s human resources department on Sept. 14. That same day, then-Mayor Lloyd Winnecke sent a prepared statement to the media announcing Connelly’s departure. Anslinger, he said, would take over as chief “immediately.”

“I’m grateful for Mike’s 29 years of dedicated service to our city,” the statement read in part.

From there, however, public comment on Connelly essentially ceased. In a news conference four days later, Anslinger declined to discuss it beyond calling it “unexpected” and “surprising.” And when a Courier & Press reporter asked Winnecke after a public event in December, he refused to talk about it as well.

“I’ve said all I’m going to say about it,” he said. Then he chuckled. “Nice try, though.”

Multiple records requests filed by the Courier & Press in the aftermath also got little response and were largely ignored until January, when Mayor Stephanie Terry’s administration took over. Even then, a request seeking Connelly’s personnel files and any disciplinary records against him was partially denied. DeLucio said the personnel file was confidential under state law.

Knight said the secrecy surrounding Connelly's retirement was a problem.

"If the truth is never told, or transparency is never issued, then it can cause rumors and hearsay to run rampant," Knight explained. "And I think that's what's happened."

Those rumors inflicted real harm, according to the woman who suffered the brunt of whispers and innuendo among city staff. She chalked the rumors up to an attitude of, "It's always the woman's fault."

"I've had to deal with all that on my own, you know," she said. "Without any help from the city."

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Employee says former Evansville fire chief filmed her without consent