[Publisher's note: This article contains graphic sexual content.]
TOLEDO,Ohio – When the city's water commissioner, Willie Perryman, Jr., suddenly retired on Sept. 23 from his $65,000-a-year job, there was little surprise at City Hall.
Perhaps Mayor Carty Finkbeiner and his top aides, Tom Kroma and Robert Reinbolt, encouraged him to leave. Or maybe Perryman, the longtime pastor at Jerusalem Baptist Church on
In his brief memo to Finkbeiner, submitted the day he retired, Perryman, 49, said he was leaving his job to devote more time to his ministry.
Not addressed by Perryman, the Finkbeiner administration or anyone else was the real reason behind the departure.
City documents obtained by The Newsmeister.com reveal that last summer Perryman sent an unspecified number of shockingly explicit sexual text messages to a temporary clerk in the city's Neighborhoods Department.
The employee, 40-year-old Tamara Turner Fuseini, turned seven of the messages over to her bosses, who alerted city officials, triggering an investigation.
When asked about the text messages during a telephone interview in early September Perryman said, "I don't know what you're talking about." But in a notarized affidavit given on Sept. 22 – the day before he retired – Perryman admitted sending the messages to Fuseini. Both sides say there was never a physical relationship.
"I regret the fact of the communications," he said, "but assert that this is a private matter between consenting adults and went no further at anytime than the regrettable communications."
Last week, during a brief telephone interview when he was asked about his change-of-memory, Perryman had a single comment: "Call my attorney."
Finkbeiner, Kroma and Reinbolt declined to be interviewed for this story. Speaking on their behalf, spokesman Jason Webber wrote in an e-mail: "City of Toledo policy dictates that we cannot comment on any past or present personnel issues."
Fuseini, who continues to work as a temporary clerk in Neighborhoods, also declined comment, fearing the city will force her dismissal, according to her attorney, Kathleen Kolodgy. Fuseini asked the city for $35,000, in part to pay for counseling. According to Kolodgy, the city never responded to that request. Fuseini has not filed a suit to attempt to collect the money.
Two Commissioners in Trouble
Perryman is the second city commissioner involved in an embarrassing scandal in nine months. The Newsmeister.com reported in September that Edward Moore, the city’s sewage and drainage commissioner, was suspended five days without pay in June after he received more than $5,000 from the city for classes he took at the University of Toledo, where he qualified for free tuition because his wife works there.
"In two cases, (Moore and Perryman), had it been a Local 7 member, they would have been terminated," said Don Czerniak, president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 7, which represents about 900 city employees. "There was no discipline at all to Willie Perryman because (they) let him ride out the storm and retire."
In a notarized letter written Aug. 12 for city officials, Fuseini talked about Perryman's repeated sexual advances through text messages and phone calls, and her resulting anger: "I felt like I was taken advantage of on every human level, and I want something done. I don't know if he has done this before, but I want it to stop with me."
In his affidavit, Perryman described Fuseini as a willing participant in sexual banter. Perryman has no record of the lewd text messages, phone conversations or sexually explicit photographs he attributes to Fuseini, according to his attorney, Richard Mitchell.
Kolodgy insists her client was a victim not a participant. "I'm not suggesting there was any kind of consensual relationship. But even if there was, she refused to continue it. It's just wrong."
The two first met in May. Perryman, who joined the city in 2002 as an assistant to former Mayor Jack Ford, had just been promoted from manager of the city's Neighborhood Beautification Action program to water commissioner. Fuseini was employed by Horizon Employment Services, which supplies the city with temporary help. The company is owned by Fuseini's aunt, Patricia Parker.
In her August letter to the city, Fuseini said she befriended Perryman because others spoke highly of him. "They said he was a good man and a reverend and helpful to everyone that crosses his path," she wrote.
They started text-messaging one another. Initially, the conversations were work-related, Fuseini said. Then they evolved into more personal matters, such as their family lives. Fuseini learned that Perryman is married. Perryman discovered that Fuseini's husband, a Ghana native, resides in Greece and is having trouble getting a visa to the U.S. According to Fuseini, Perryman offered assistance. "(He) said, 'If you ever need help in trying to bring your husband over to the states, let me know. I know (U.S. Rep.) Marcy Kaptur and she may be able to help.
Conversation Turns to Sex
In late June, Fuseini said, Perryman's behavior changed. The text messages were different. The topic was sex. "I did not know how to react to this change in Mr. Perryman," Fuseini wrote. "I allowed him to make sexual gestures to me, afraid that no one would believe me. I tried to rear him off but the advances were very strong and caused a lot of anxiety for me. I also feared he would put in a word to someone and have me replaced."
The Newsmeister.com obtained seven of the text messages in a public records request. Perryman's language is graphic.
An example: "If I can only C ur pussy! I would cum. I really believe u will let me fuck! you! I'm going 2 pound your ASS!"
Another: "All I ask is 4 a peek so I can jack. U can hold my face & squirt me tongue. Its ova! U'll be pleased!"
Perryman also called Fuseini on her cell phone, sometimes while she was at work. She said he often asked her if she could come to her house before work and, as she wrote "look at my private area while he masturbates."
In another text message, he wrote: "Ride black daddy! Ride black daddy! Ride black daddy! CUMMMMMMMMMMMMING!
On July 29, she texted him a final message: "I'm pleased with my husband. Ur not hearing me. NO MEANS NO. LOSE ME NUMBA. BYE!
On Aug, 12, Fuseini gave the text messages to her supervisor, Michael Bombrys. The following day Patricia Parker of Horizon told Theresa Gabriel, the mayor's assistant chief of staff; Peg Wallace, the city's human resources director; and Calvin Brown, the city's manager of benefits, training and workers' compensation about the text messages and asked for a meeting.
Meanwhile, Perryman discovered that city officials had copies of the text messages. He called Fuseini twice on the afternoon of the 13th - she picked up on her city desk phone - to ask if she had turned him in. She denied it once, then, during the second call, she told him she had.
Fuseini wrote: "He said, 'N-o-o-o! Tell me you didn't bring me down. You ruined my life.'"
The Investigation
Brown began an investigation. He spoke on Aug. 14 with Perryman, who admitted sending the text messages,. He met with Fuseini for the first time eight days later. In that meeting, Brown told Fuseini he could offer her group therapy at no cost and a letter of apology from Perryman. In a memo to Reinbolt written that day, Brown reiterated the results of his meeting with Fuseini and told him he hoped to get her to sign an agreement that would keep her from suing the city, Perryman or Horizon.
In 2002, Fuseini filed a discrimination complaint with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission after she was fired from her job at Mandell-Vasquez, Inc. in Toledo. The company’s president, Hernan Vasquez, said he settled the complaint with Fuseini, paying her $1,000.
Asked for proof of sexual text messages, e-mails or anything sent by Fuseini to Perryman, Perryman’s attorney, Richard Mitchell said, "Those things exist with the text and e-mail providers. The reality of it is, (Perryman is) not interested in furthering this matter in any way."
Brown, in a Sept. 11 report, concluded: "Mr. Perryman did exhibit actions that were unbecoming of a city employee in a leadership role."
Despite those findings, Perryman retained his job and was not disciplined during the six weeks before his departure.
Kolodgy, in a Sept. 8 letter to acting city law director Adam Loukx, expressed surprise. "Mrs. Fuseini reported his actions, and the city knows of his behavior," she wrote.
Additionally, Kolodgy said she was disappointed that the city had not followed up on its promise to provide counseling for her client. Fuseini felt similarly. In the letter, Kolodgy said Fuseini wanted the $35,000 from the city "for harm caused by this situation and so she can obtain private treatment." Kolodgy also said Fuseini had been seeking a full-time job with the city and hoped she would be moved to a short list for any appropriate vacancies.
Perryman did send a letter to Fuseini through Mitchell. "It was sort of an apology," Kolodgy said.
In his Sept. 23 report to the mayor, Brown said his inquiry would continue. Kolodgy said she is not aware of any further activity.
Reported by George J. Tanber georgejtanber@gmail.com
