Years after sexual harassment complaints, former Ambridge officers say they’ve found peace

AMBRIDGE, Pa. — Three years after filing the initial sexual harassment complaints, two former Ambridge Police officers have found some peace.

“It’s important that women continue to be strong and bring these issues to light so we can continue to make further progress to not have this discussion in the future,” said Nikki Lykos, the defense attorney in the case.

Officers Alexis Korol and Amanda Brown both filed complaints against their former police chief, James Mann, for sexual harassment. They then sued the borough and department this spring.

“They felt it was important to put a stop to this. It wasn’t funny it was becoming every time they were around the chief or engaging with the chief. There were comments, things being said. They had enough and decided to speak up,” Lykos told Channel 11.

Lykos said the borough reached a settlement with the officers this month that included a financial settlement, a letter to the community explaining the conclusion and new mandatory workplace harassment training.

That training is the big win in their book.

“It was extremely important to them to not only resolve their case but for there to be some action that would try to or hopefully deter this from happening again - not just in the police department but elsewhere,” Lykos said.

This action is what they wanted, a first-of-its-kind training for all borough employees.

“There was no specific timeline on when that workplace training was needed. I put it in the hands of the lawyers of the borough. If they want to avoid these situations in the future, they will take the steps promptly,” Lykos said.

Police Chief Mann was terminated from his position earlier this year.

Channel 11 News did reach out to the borough for further comment outside of the letter to the community but did not hear back.

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