Excerpts of Roswell Official Investigative Report Obtained by the Beacon under FOIA Sunshine Law
By John Breech / STAFF
A story that began exactly one month ago today when Vasilios Andreou abruptly and unexpectedly resigned his post as Roswell’s Director of Transportation has taken on a new twist. On June 10, when the resignation was made public, it was announced that Andreou had resigned for “personal reasons.” However, the Beacon has obtained official city documentation that clearly states otherwise.
It turns out that fellow city employee Kim Weber, who served under Andreou as his administrative assistant, accused her boss of sexual harassment, creating a hostile work environment and inappropriate conduct.
Weber, who had been working under Andreou since November, filed the complaint in early June. That left Andreou’s fate ultimately in the hands of City Administrator Kay Love and Director of Human Resources Diane Whitfield.
The Accuser
According to the official report, Weber “Really started noticing something was amiss,” in March, only four months into her new job. Andreou’s penchant for expecting hugs and kisses from Weber irked her, and she mentioned to Whitfield in her complaint that she wasn’t comfortable with his signs of affection. Weber said that anytime she tried to talk her way out of the daily combination it would “degenerate into three days of discussion” on what her problem was with his behavior.
Weber also made it known that hugs weren’t the only thing that Andreou was after. Weber recounted Andreou once saying, “I’m not just interested in having sex with you, but you know I am a hot blooded Cyprian, you know, and I would love that. But if you won’t let me have that, then I want to be whatever kind of friend.”
Weber told Love and Whitfield that she continually rebuffed his advances. However, by Weber’s account, it seems that Andreou was undeterred by her rejections. Andreou supposedly went as far as asking Weber to go to Cyprus with him, something that Weber says she was open to at first. But Weber was only open to the idea because she was under the impression that her son and Andreou’s family would also be going. When Weber found out that Andreou wanted the Cyprus trip to involve just the two of them, she believed it to be completely inappropriate.
Weber also stated that Andreou invited her to Virginia Beach, and that he may have even bought her a plane ticket, something that Andreou denied during the investigation.
According to Weber, things went overboard while the two were having lunch together at her house. Weber said that Andreou had been practically begging to have lunch at her place since he knew Weber’s daily lunch schedule. She usually headed home to eat because she has two dogs to feed.
One day Weber finally relented and let Andreou join her for lunch at her home. While they were at Weber’s residence Andreou allegedly laid a kiss on Weber, which set off what Weber described as, “an hour long discussion over why I wouldn’t let him feel how it really feels to kiss me… and something was wrong with me and that I couldn’t just experience a kiss with a friend.”
From there things got worse for Weber and she threatened to go to Human Resources on June 5. At that point, Andreou apparently promised her anything she wanted while vowing to “Never cross the line again,” according to Weber.
Weber also told Love and Whitfield about a job promotion that Andreou had promised her, a new position that Love admitted only existed because Andreou had a reorganization plan for the transportation department. The plan was in the pending budget for the upcoming year.
Weber received several gifts from Andreou, including a bottle of perfume, a pair of golden earrings, two teddy bears and a gold ring that had yet to arrive. Weber said she wouldn’t have a problem with the gifts if everyone was getting them, but she was obviously the only one.
Weber had some other complaints about Andreou, namely that he called her cell phone incessantly and that his distractions never allowed her to get any work done.
Weber made it clear that her goal was to work with the city for a long time. “I didn’t flirt with him or wear revealing clothing… I wanted to be here (at the city) till I retired and I wanted to be that girl that was gonna be here forever.”
The Accused
Andreou didn’t deny the hugging and the kissing. However, he insisted to Whitfield, Love and Roswell Lt. J.H. McGee that the affection shown to Weber was only meant as a customary greeting. When asked if he had ever kissed Weber, Andreou responded, “It depends on what you mean by kiss.” He went on to explain that there are several forms of kissing. Some can be personal, while others can be in social settings and others can be for greetings. Andreou was very adamant that kissing on the lips is a formal greeting. However, when asked if he had ever kissed Whitfield or Love on the lips, his answer was no.
Andreou also asserted that kissing in the office is all right as long as it’s in a greeting situation.
When questioned point blank if he kissed Weber at her residence, he replied, “I don’t think so.” Andreou explicitly disagreed with Weber’s claim that anything immoral happened while he was there.
Andreou also had a differing opinion on the subject of the offered trips. He claims that he merely suggested that Weber should take a trip to Cyprus and that he also offered her information in case she was actually interested in going. As for Virginia Beach, Andreou maintained that he never invited her, only that he told her that it would be a great place for her to go visit.
Andreou didn’t deny buying perfume or the teddy bears for Weber and he also admitted writing her poems. As for the gold earrings, Andreou said he had given them to her because, “She had been working really hard putting in long hours doing a little extra work on special projects. So I thought it would be a good gesture to do that.”
Admissions
Perhaps the most damning part to Andreou’s case was the fact that he admitted that he had not hugged or kissed any other female in his department, only Weber.
At the conclusion of their separate interviews with Love and Whitfield, both Andreou and Weber were offered a chance to take a polygraph. Andreou refused, while Weber agreed.
Witness for the Prosecution
A fellow city female employee who Weber confided in during the ordeal both corroborated Weber’s stories and gave a first hand account of several instances where she witnessed Andreou acting inappropriately towards Weber.
Following his June 5 interview with Love and Whitfield, Andreou was placed on administrative leave. Five days later, Andreou supplied the city with a two-sentence resignation, effective immediately.
Both Weber and Andreou were interviewed at separate times by the trio of Kay Love, Diane Whitfield and Lt. J.H. McGee. According to Roswell Police Chief Ed Williams, Lt. McGee was used in a city case because of his training as an internal affairs investigator. This was not an official case for the RPD and therefore they have no comment on the matter.