| REPRINTED FROM THE CHARLESTON GAZETTE
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By Charles Shumaker
Staff Writer
A veteran State Police trooper admitted sharing meals, notes and intimate conversations with a female civilian employee
who is suing him over alleged sexual harassment, but he says he never harassed her or two other women who accuse him,
according to recent Kanawha Circuit Court filings.
Capt. Barrington D. Gore says the three women retaliated against him with false claims of sexual harassment that have cost
him both personally and professionally.
He responded last week to the three Kanawha Circuit Court lawsuits filed in September by female workers at the South
Charleston State Police headquarters.
The women, Sherry Lawson, Dreama Crowder and Andrea Shepherd, alleged Gore harassed them and created a hostile
work environment, fueled by sex-related comments, gifts or offers.
The women sued Gore after an internal investigation of their complaints found Gore innocent of wrongdoing.
Lawson and Gore had a relationship, though both described it differently in court documents.
Lawson alleged in her suit that she and Gore, who is married, shared trips together and had a "consensual, sexual
affair."
Gore responded to that allegation and filed a counterclaim against each woman last week.
He described his relationship with Lawson as a nonsexual relationship that ended in August 2002 when she wanted the
relationship to progress. Instead, Gore decided to end the relationship just before a trip with his wife and family, he
said.
"[Gore] at that point made the decision that it was in the best interest of him and his family that he terminate his relationship
with Lawson," according to court filings.
He alleges Lawson left him voice and e-mail messages with the intention of forcing him to have a relationship with her.
Though Gore refused to respond to the messages, he feared for his and his family's safety, according to court filings.
"We believe that, of course, these allegations are untrue and overstated," said Ford Francis, Gore's lawyer. "The harasser
and stalker in this is Sherry Lawson."
Crowder and Shepherd alleged Gore harassed them in various ways, including making telephone calls to them at home and
work and making sexual requests of them.
Gore denied those allegations.
Crowder, according to Gore's court filings, believed Gore could use his professional influence to assist her and her
brother, also a State Police officer, in their careers. She retaliated with the claims of sexual harassment when it became
apparent to her that Gore took advantage of her when she needed help, Gore alleged in his counterclaim.
Gore alleges Shepherd retaliated against him with the sexual harassment accusations because he gave her a poor job
performance review. Shepherd, according to Gore, accused him of giving her a poor review because she wouldn't
respond to his sexual advances.
The women's civil lawsuits ask for undisclosed damages.
Gore's counterclaim asks that he be awarded compensatory and punitive damages for his physical, mental and emotional
distress as well as damage to his reputation.
Gore was moved from his position as head of the State Police Professional Standards Unit to the agency's Bureau of
Criminal Investigations after the allegations were made. He has also been demoted in rank from major to captain.
Crowder, Shepherd and Lawson are still employed by the State Police, said State Police spokesman Sgt. Jay
Powers.
REPRINTED FROM THE CHARLESTON GAZETTE
FOOTNOTE: Gore, who was in charge of the State Police's internal affairs investigating professional miscoduct within the
organization, was himself cleared of wrongdoing after an internal investigation by the agency, although they demoted him. - Hur
Herald | 
