{"id":22359,"date":"2025-10-27T15:42:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T15:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/22359\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T15:42:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T15:42:09","slug":"brian-caper-a-leader-on-st-petes-canceled-rays-stadium-deal-resigns-amid-verified-sexual-harassment-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/22359\/","title":{"rendered":"Brian Caper, a leader on St. Pete’s canceled Rays stadium deal, resigns amid verified sexual harassment allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"

St. Petersburg Managing Director of Economic and Workforce Development Brian Caper, one of the city leaders behind work to redevelop the Historic Gas Plant District and on the canceled<\/a> deal with the Tampa Bay Rays, has resigned his position after findings that he subjected a subordinate in his department to \u201csexual harassment and other inappropriate behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caper\u2019s resignation, dated Oct. 22 and effective immediately, did not reference the sexual harassment findings. Instead, Caper wrote that it is \u201cthe right time\u201d for him \u201cto pursue new career opportunities outside the public sector\u201d in his home state of Illinois.<\/p>\n

But documents obtained by Florida Politics outline a troubling history of allegations against Caper by Economic Development Coordinator Veronika Slep, who officially filed a complaint against Caper on Aug. 29. And interviews with current and former employees who worked with or for Caper show at least one instance in which unprofessional conduct was reported, but not acted upon, in November of 2022.<\/p>\n

A City Investigation Panel reviewed text messages Slep provided showing evidence of inappropriate comments and content and interviewed witnesses, including Slep and Caper, finding that claims of sexual harassment were substantiated as defined in city policy.<\/p>\n

Slep, who began working under Caper in the Economic and Workforce Development department in February of 2023, told investigators she began feeling uncomfortable in October of 2023 when Caper \u201cbegan sharing sexually explicit images\u201d with her, according to the investigation\u2019s final report, issued on Oct. 20, 2025.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The investigation outlines an evolving relationship that began as friendly, but soon turned inappropriate, with eventual declarations of love from Caper to Slep and an invitation to attend an out-of-state conference for which Slep declined because she was uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have been and will always be so much more than a work friend,\u201d one text message from June 3, 2024, reads. Caper was responding to a text from Slep explaining that she had \u201conly recently learned how close you consider me when you told me you had to have a chat with Sarah (Caper\u2019s wife).\u201d<\/p>\n

Caper, at that time, added that he did \u201chave feelings for you,\u201d but said they were \u201cnot in a romantic\/crush way, but in a very deep emotional way that I don\u2019t have with most people.\u201d<\/p>\n

On July 2, 2024, Caper told Slep that \u201chis wife asked him if he was in love with Slep, but he could not answer the question,\u201d according to the investigation report.<\/p>\n

On Aug. 19, 2024, the report shows that Caper texted \u201cbelieve it or not I do love you,\u201d to Slep.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The report also outlines how, when Slep first began working with Caper, he \u201cshared his cell phone tracker\u201d with her \u201cso she could see when he was out of the office.\u201d She told the investigation panel that she \u201cwas uncomfortable accepting, but relented at Caper\u2019s insistence.\u201d<\/p>\n

She then said she \u201cfelt obligated\u201d to also share her cellphone information \u201cafter further pressure from Caper. Then, he \u201coccasionally referenced her after-hours activities,\u201d which the report said made Slep \u201cvery uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

In December 2024, Caper responded to Slep\u2019s attempt to address ongoing workplace tension \u201cby apologizing for not reciprocating Caper\u2019s feelings,\u201d according to the report. Caper responded by text that \u201cI love you but I\u2019m not in love with you,\u201d saying \u201cthere\u2019s no way it could ever work\u201d because he is married and she was dating someone else. But he added that \u201cI\u2019m very much attracted to you,\u201d a statement the report says \u201cdisturbed\u201d Slep.<\/p>\n

By March 5, 2025, Slep\u2019s discomfort escalated to fear, as evidenced by a text message from Caper stating that \u201che saw her shaking with fear the last two times they interacted.\u201d<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s human resources department instructed Caper to cease personal contact with Slep. But on April 1, Caper sent her an Instagram message at 10:33 p.m. \u201casking her when the standoff was going to end,\u201d according to the report. In all, the report says Caper tried to contact Slep nine times on April 15 from 10:17 p.m. until 11:34 p.m.<\/p>\n

The report further highlights text message evidence showing Caper making \u201cderogatory, unprofessional, and inappropriate comments\u201d about his department and its employees.<\/p>\n

In one, Caper wrote that \u201cwhenever I cheat on Sarah it\u2019s with the bull dyke kind of woman,\u201d in reference to one of his female former staff members, Sarah Hughart. Hughart declined to be interviewed, but confirmed information she had provided in her resignation letter in late 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe asserted that Caper frequently body-shamed women, defamed leadership, and maliciously manipulated the reputations of colleagues behind closed doors for his own benefit,\u201d the report reads, adding that Hughart reported Caper\u2019s toxic conduct to management but they chose to overlook it, and instead, promoted him.\u201d<\/p>\n

In reference to another, Caper wrote about \u201cher f***ing bulls**t about how her heart isn\u2019t into and she doesn\u2019t know what\u2019s next when she already accepted a position with Ray Jay. F**k you. She\u2019s a lying c**t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another text referenced Caper\u2019s boss, Community and Neighborhood Affairs Administrator James Corbett, saying that \u201cIf I was gay, I\u2019d be most interested in James.\u201d<\/p>\n

The texts included profanity, complaints about city workers\u2019 public speaking skills, educational attainment, and other various unprofessional complaints.<\/p>\n

Caper earned a salary of $125,000 per year, according to city documents.<\/p>\n

Mayor Ken Welch said the city \u201ctakes any allegations of harassment or inappropriate behavior very seriously and will investigate any reported instances to the fullest extent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city\u2019s HR team is capable, qualified, and equipped to handle employee concerns, and I trust they have done their due diligence in this investigation, as they do in all such matters,\u201d Welch said in a statement.\u00a0\u201cAt the end of the day, my administration does not tolerate inappropriate behavior and we will take the necessary steps to remove any individual who does not act in accordance with our city policies and procedures.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St. Petersburg Managing Director of Economic and Workforce Development Brian Caper, one of the city leaders behind work…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[17364,13644,17365,2346,17366,202,204,203,199,201,200,3815,8125,17367],"class_list":["post-22359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-brian-caper","tag-historic-gas-plant-district","tag-james-corbett","tag-ken-welch","tag-sexual-harassment","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa-bay-rays","tag-tropicana-field","tag-veronika-slep"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}