Monmouth Jury Awards West Long Branch Police Sergeant $1.5 Million For Promotion Passover, Emotional Distress

FREEHOLD - A West Long Branch police sergeant was recently awarded $1.5 million by a Monmouth County jury after a four-week in which she claimed she was passed over for a promotion and treated unfairly because she is a woman, according to app.com.

The jury awarded Marlowe Botti $521,000 in compensatory damages for back pay and emotional distress, and $1 million in punitive damages, said Charles J. Sciarra, he attorney.

"We are extremely grateful that this jury sat and listened to weeks of testimony and swept aside all of West Long Branch’s contrivances and falsehoods," Sciarra said. "The verdict means Ms. Botti will now be the most senior sergeant in the police department, where she can continue to pursue her law-enforcement career unhindered by any further nonsense."

Botti’s lawsuit claimed she was passed over for a promotion to sergeant despite achieving the top score on a 2011 promotional exam. She was eventually promoted to that rank in 2016, and she remains on the West Long Branch police force, Sciarra said.

Lori Cole, business administrator for West Long Branch, declined to comment. Borough Attorney Richard A. Gantner did not return a phone call for comment.

Botti was hired by the West Long Branch Police Department on June 18, 2004, and moved to the detective bureau in January 2008, her lawsuit said.

She worked in the two-person detective bureau for a year and four months with fellow officer William Lynch, who expressed a romantic interest in her, according to court papers.

The pair shared a consensual kiss at one point, but the relationship never went any further than that. When Botti began dating a fellow officer whom she later married, Lynch's attitude toward her changed, the court papers said.

Botti was taken out of the detective bureau when she advised her superiors she could no longer work in that environment, according to the court papers.

Botti, Lynch and several other officers were vying for a promotion to the rank of sergeant. Botti got the top score on an oral examination given by the New Jersey Association of Chiefs of Police. But Lynch gained an edge in interviews with borough police officials and, in 2012, was given the promotion over Botti, the court papers said.

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Image: Patch file photo.