A former employee of Fresno\u2019s police union has filed a lawsuit against union president Jeff La Blue for wrongful termination after rejecting numerous sexual advances.\u00a0<\/p>\n
La Blue and the Fresno Police Officers Association (FPOA) denied the allegations, saying they will take all necessary steps to defend themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The big picture: Former FPOA employee Anna Pine claims in a lawsuit filed on Thursday that she was wrongfully terminated on Aug. 21, 2025, after four years of employment. She most recently served as the union\u2019s Business Manager and Treasurer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to the lawsuit, Pine claims La Blue retaliated against her for denying his sexual advances.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The lawsuit also accuses La Blue of spreading false rumors accusing Pine of stealing money from the union.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Driving the news: In the lawsuit, Pine accused La Blue of making sexual advances toward her when she initiated a divorce from her husband. Those advances allegedly included a romantic and graphic sexting relationship from December 2023 to March 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring that time, La Blue engaged in repeated sexualized communications and conduct toward [Pine], including explicit text messages, handwritten notes, verbal statements, and physical (but rejected) advances,\u201d the lawsuit reads.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pine said she sought to reestablish professional boundaries and disengage from the sexualized dynamic, which led to La Blue\u2019s demeanor toward her to change.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The lawsuit detailed an incident in November 2024 when another FPOA staff member became visibly distraught and broke down in tears while describing what La Blue said about Pine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The staff member said La Blue said \u201che wanted to grab [Pine] by the neck and\/or hair and slam her against a headboard because she was \u2018so cute.\u2019\u201d Pine and the other staff member met with the union\u2019s outside human resources consultant, leading La Blue to distance himself from the other staff member.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Following that incident, La Blue and Pine were sitting next to each other during a retirement committee meeting. La Blue allegedly used his foot to caress Pine\u2019s leg and then reacted negatively when rebuffed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Go deeper: La Blue\u2019s alleged hostility toward Pine increased when he hired another staff member, Rebecca Johnson. Pine accused Johnson in the lawsuit of engaging in demeaning, vulgar and overtly sexualized conduct toward officers and staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pine said she raised those concerns directly with La Blue, but La Blue rebuffed her and encouraged Johnson. She later accessed a workplace recording that captured a conversation\u00a0 between La Blue and Johnson on April 23, 2025, where La Blue made explicit, sex-based and degrading remarks about Pine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
La Blue allegedly called Pine a \u201cfucking bitch\u201d and said her menstrual cycle is \u201ca fucking nightmare,\u201d adding that she \u201cgoes through these cycles.\u201d The recording also captured La Blue saying words to the effect of \u201cI am going to fire her for this,\u201d referencing Pine pushing back against him and Johnson, according to the lawsuit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The lawsuit states that Pine was offered nearly $64,000 in severance when she was eventually terminated on the condition that she stayed quiet. La Blue then allegedly started to spread false rumors that Pine had stolen money from the FPOA when she refused to sign the severance agreement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The other side: The FPOA issued a statement Thursday afternoon acknowledging the lawsuit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPine was an at-will employee and was terminated for cause following documented performance and conduct issues. The allegations in her lawsuit are contradicted by extensive documentation and are denied,\u201d the FPOA said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The statement continued, \u201cFollowing Pine\u2019s termination, the FPOA has uncovered additional evidence that further supports the FPOA\u2019s position and denial of Pine\u2019s allegations. Based on the evidence identified and acquired after Pine\u2019s termination, the FPOA and La Blue will take all necessary actions to defend themselves and vindicate their rights.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pushback from Pine: Brian Whelan, Pine\u2019s attorney, responded to FPOA\u2019s denial Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve received the FPOA\u2019s statement on the lawsuit. The organization\u2019s president is on tape blaming my client\u2019s menstrual cycle, calling her a \u2018f\u2014ing bitch,\u2019 and saying he was going to fire her for doing her job. Afterward, they lied about her to cover it up. That is not a misunderstanding \u2014 it is blatant retaliation and sex discrimination, and my client will be vindicated in court,\u201d Whelan said in a statement.<\/p>\n
City of Fresno weighs in: \u201cWhile the City of Fresno is not named as a party in this action, we take these allegations very seriously, will follow all appropriate protocols regarding this on-going litigation and continue to monitor the situation with one of our labor representatives,\u201d Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz said in a statement.<\/p>\n
What we\u2019re watching: Pine is seeking $1.95 million in damages to cover past and future lost wages, damage to reputation, past and future lost employee benefits, interest, diminished employability, other economic injury and emotional distress damages.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She is requesting a trial by jury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former employee of Fresno\u2019s police union has filed a lawsuit against union president Jeff La Blue for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113,7999],"class_list":{"0":"post-155818","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news","11":"tag-highlight"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}