Years of sexual harassment allegations have swirled around a correctional officer-turned-leader of one of Silicon Valley’s biggest civil rights groups. He’s suing the Santa Clara County officials who found them credible.
A county personnel board last August unanimously found NAACP of San Jose/Silicon Valley President Sean Allen engaged in a pattern of sexually harassing, intimidating and bullying a female colleague in the county jails when he was a correctional officer. The employee, whose name is redacted in official records reviewed by San José Spotlight, complained in 2020 that Allen repeatedly leered at her and made unwanted physical advances and comments about her appearance and preferences in men.
The incidents allegedly took place from 2016 to 2018, when Allen was promoted to a supervisor position. The accuser said Allen at one point told her, “I’m always watching you wherever you are. I have cameras, I can see where you go – you’re always in my eyes and you stand out.”
The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office recommended Allen’s firing in January 2021 and formally did so in April 2023. The office gave him the option to appeal with the county’s personnel board, a panel of retired county employees. The board heard his appeal over four days in June 2024 and voted to uphold Allen’s termination. The board heard from nine workplace witnesses who recalled how the accuser cried in the workplace, wore baggy clothes to work to conceal her body and struggled with her home life as a result of Allen’s alleged behavior.
Allen denies all the accusations. He said the hearings — and the sheriff’s internal affairs probe into the complaint — were riddled with bias. He said he was the true victim of harassment and attempted to call his own witnesses during the hearing, but said he was given minimal time and notice to do so.
“It was a kangaroo court,” Allen told San José Spotlight. “They let the county and sheriff have three days to present their case. I was only given three hours on the last day. The majority of my witnesses were at work or on duty and needed authorization. When I called the sheriff’s office facility commander, there was no answer.”
Allen is suing the county, seeking to overturn the outcome of the personnel board hearings. He filed a petition Nov. 14, 2024 against the county administration, including the personnel board and the sheriff’s office. He filed his latest motion in the case Oct. 15.
“The sheriff’s office takes all allegations of misconduct seriously and maintains a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination and harassment,” sheriff’s office spokesperson Brooks Jarosz told San José Spotlight. “While these events occurred under the prior administration, Sheriff Jonsen and the current leadership team remain committed to transparency and accountability. However, due to ongoing litigation involving Mr. Allen, we are unable to comment further at this time.”
The personnel board members and representatives for the county did not respond to requests for comment.
The NAACP leader called his case a retaliatory scheme after publicly blowing the whistle on the department’s embattled former leader, Laurie Smith, who was in charge when Allen was fired. In 2017, Allen was the only officer to go on record about the abuse of the jail population in the wake of the death of Michael Tyree at the hands of correctional officers. Allen also publicly blew the whistle on a cadet training death before his firing.
Allen provided this news outlet with documents showing he himself complained about misconduct to county whistleblower email lines and reported co-workers’ harassment of other women before his firing. The documents show he also complained about racist harassment from other deputies and nepotistic promotional practices under Smith.
Smith did not respond to requests for comment.
During the proceedings, Allen argued his accuser was pursuing him, which the personnel board rejected. Assistant Sheriff David Sepulveda, who retired last year, also rejected that notion in a 32-page letter notifying Allen of his 2023 firing. The letter summarized the outcome of the investigation and included multiple witness statements.
The former assistant sheriff argued witnesses did not support Allen’s claims. Sepulveda, and later the personnel board, also found Allen made untruthful statements when he said he did not know of any other complaints filed against him, because Allen was allegedly hit with three other misconduct complaints in 2020.
Sepulveda’s letter said witnesses did not see most incidents directly, but argued they corroborated the accuser’s emotional distress after interactions with Allen.
“This harassment caused her to be so uncomfortable that she avoided working in areas you were assigned, which had a negative impact on her case work,” Sepulveda wrote.
Documents Allen provided show he complained about Sepulveda to the county whistleblower hotline in October 2021.
Sepulveda could not be reached for comment.
Allen claims the statements attributed to him in the county documents — including “I’d date a woman like you” — were fabricated. He also denied allegations in the report that he invited his accuser to his house for drinks.
“It’s not my personality. People who know me were shocked by this report,” Allen said. “I’m a 6-foot-1, 230-pound Black man. Aggressive behavior is something I try not to do in any capacity. I’m always concerned about that even in my personal interactions with people I don’t know.”
After his firing, Allen became active in civil rights work — publicly protesting the use of police dogs and the controversial approval of Taser weapons for the sheriff’s office. He stepped into the race to replace Smith, who resigned amid corruption charges in 2021. But the office ultimately went to Sheriff Bob Jonsen. Allen was later elected to succeed the late Rev. Jeff Moore as president of the NAACP of San Jose/Silicon Valley last year.
“This is an attempt to stop me from being an advocate, and I’m not going to do that,” Allen said.
Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X.