Claims of Staff Sex Parties: New Troubles for Public Housing

NEW YORK — The litany of problems facing public housing residents in New York City — mold, lead paint, faulty boilers and leaky roofs — just got longer: claims of staff sex parties.

The entire 40-person staff of a housing development in the Bronx was reassigned over the weekend after residents complained that some workers had been drinking and having sex on the job.

Male and female supervisors at Throggs Neck Houses engaged in erotic activities with their subordinates for months — both inside and outside the buildings, said Monique Johnson, the president of the development’s resident association.

“They would drink during working hours and have sexual relations,” Johnson said.

The 40 employees — including caretakers and workers from the development’s management office — were replaced on Monday and reassigned to other housing developments, said Robin Levine, a spokeswoman for New York City Housing Authority, also known as NYCHA.

“We’ve had long-standing concerns about management and performance issues at Throggs Neck,” Levine said. “Those concerns, coupled with troubling allegations of misconduct, are why the staff was reassigned. We can’t comment further on an ongoing investigation.”

Levine declined to say if any of the supervisors were being investigated for sexual harassment, or if the relationships between staff members were consensual. None of the people reassigned were suspended from their positions on Monday, she said.

Overlooking the Trump Golf Links in Ferry Point, the Throggs Neck Houses are a sprawling development of 29 unassuming brick buildings that house more than 2,500 New Yorkers.

It has long grappled with many of the same maintenance and mismanagement issues that led the federal government earlier this summer to order the appointment of a federal monitor to turn around the flailing housing authority. Residents said the allegations of sexual misconduct among the staff only exacerbated their anger over the worsening physical conditions at the development.

“In the meantime, we kept seeing the garbage pile up, the grounds not being kept, lights not being replaced in a timely matter,” said Lehra Brooks, a 66-year-old resident.

Brooks said she would often overhear lewd conversations among workers who gathered near her building’s garbage ramp; they would openly discuss their sexual encounters with each other, she said.

Johnson said a culture of fear and retaliation existed among workers. Employees were afraid to speak out against supervisors who were having sex with their subordinates.

“There are a lot of staff members that had absolutely nothing to do this, but because of the inappropriate behavior they have been uprooted and moved as well,” Johnson said.

Johnson said the housing authority took action after she brought the allegations directly to the agency’s general manager, Vito Mustaciuolo, who was appointed in February.

The Department of Investigation also received a separate complaint this month and referred the allegations to the housing authority, said Nicole Turso, a spokeswoman for the department.

The revelations, first reported by The Daily News, drew outrage from some elected officials who held a news conference at the development on Monday.

“My concern is that they are being relocated to other NYCHA facilities, that perhaps those tenants could be subject to the same abuses and those co-workers could be subject to the same conditions,” said Councilman Mark Gjonaj, a Democrat whose district includes the Throggs Neck Houses.

State Sen. Jeffrey D. Klein said the allegations were the culmination of years of problems at the Throggs Neck Houses, including reports last year that about 80 apartments there tested positive for lead paint, but tenants were not informed. He said the employees involved in sexual misconduct should be fired.

“The residents of Throggs Neck Houses have endured so much and I think enough is enough,” Klein said. “It has to end.”