A civilian employee at the Garden Grove Police Department alleges she was subjected to “severe and pervasive sexual harassment” by a now-former police sergeant that led to her suffering a panic attack that required medical intervention, according to a newly filed civil lawsuit.
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The woman — a non-sworn community services officer — was subjected to “relentless sexually explicit comments, gender-based degradation, and sexual overtones” by a male supervisor who coupled the alleged harassment with threats to her job when she rejected the advances, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in Orange County Superior Court.
The lawsuit also alleges that Garden Grove Police Department leaders were responsible for a hostile work environment since they “knew that some of its employees preyed on women in its workplace, and it allowed them to continue by imposing no consequence.”
The supervisor identified as the alleged sexual harasser in the lawsuit — then-Sgt. Charles Starnes — could not immediately be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for the Garden Grove Police Department declined to comment on the lawsuit or the allegations, citing an active investigation.
This publication is not identifying the plaintiff in the lawsuit, due to the nature of the harassment she is alleging.
The woman’s attorney, Bijan Darvish, said his client’s experience was part of a larger cultural issue at the Garden Grove Police Department. He pointed to the arrest earlier this year of Robert Machuca, a now-former Garden Grove police officer who is facing criminal charges for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old in the Police Explorer program.
“I don’t think this was one bad sergeant — people knew who he was,” Darvish said. “This was a department that looked the other way. I think it was a ‘good ol boys’ network’”
The woman who brought the new lawsuit alleges that Starnes — who was her direct supervisor in the department’s traffic division — harassed her from July 2025 into early 2026.
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The lawsuit alleges that Starnes “subjected” the woman and other female employees to “a barrage of sexually explicit remarks, unwelcome commentary about other women’s bodies and sexual acts and gender-based hostility.” It also contends that the sergeant “described his own sexual practices, women’s genitalia and his sexual preferences, often in front of multiple witnesses and directed at or in the immediate presence” of the woman or other female coworkers.
“I think he was looking to get into some type of sexual relationship with her, this wasn’t just someone going around making joking comments — there was a purpose behind them,” Darvish said. “Her day-to-day working environment was horrible. It was like walking on eggshells at work, waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
Starnes began pairing the sexual comments with threats to the woman’s performance evaluations — which he controlled — and her assignments within the unit, the lawsuit alleges. In February, the lawsuit alleges, “after months of harassment and threats about her performance evaluation,” the woman suffered a panic attack at work that required emergency medial treatment.
“Her body couldn’t physically take it anymore,” Darvish said.
The attorneys said Starnes was placed on administrative leave after the woman reported the alleged conduct. But, according to the lawsuit, Starnes was allowed to go back into the traffic office, where he allegedly told other officers “This is why you can’t f—–g trust civilians! I’ll be back, I am not even worried.”
According to the lawsuit, Starnes retired in April 2026 while still under investigation.
The lawsuit alleges that nearly a year before the woman reported the alleged harassment, Starnes on one occasion spoke to her about allegations that Machuca — the officer later arrested for his alleged sexual conduct with an underage Police Explorer — had sexually harassed a young woman. The lawsuit alleges that Starnes response to the allegations against Machuca was to say “Yeah, but if she was 18 and hot, I wouldn’t mind.”
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The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of financial damages.