IndyStar: Three women allege grooming, sexual harassment by former Hogsett aide

Thomas Cook, a former Indianapolis chief of staff in the Hogsett administration, was the focus of sexual harassment and predatory behavior allegations from three women, according to a recent investigation by the Indianapolis Star.

WFYI’s Jill Sheridan spoke with IndyStar Reporters Hayleigh Colombo and James Briggs about their investigation into the allegations.

This transcript was edited for length, style and clarity.

Jill Sheridan: James, could you talk a little bit about what triggered this investigation, and why you two decided to follow the story?

James Briggs: We've seen on social media in the days since it was published that there has been sort of speculation and rumors about this behavior for some time. But that's all it really is until women who have experienced behavior from someone in power feel comfortable coming out and sharing it. And that's really what happened. In this case, the alleged behavior occurred as far back as 2014. And as recently as last year, we just had on the record sources very recently, and that enabled us to tell this story.

So three women, one of whom agreed to be named, alleged to us a pattern of behavior, they say that [Thomas Cook] sexually harassed them. In one case, a woman says that Cook assaulted her. The pattern described to us is this: complimenting younger women on staff –– often much younger –– early 20s. Cook is 39 now. He'd show them sort of a vision of their future, ‘You'll be running this place someday’, ‘What kind of job do you want?’

The three women told us that he pressured them toward intimacy, relationships, and sexual encounters. And Mayor Joe Hogsett knew about at least some of these allegations going back to 2017.

Sheridan: What do you think this tells us about the power structure of the Hogsett administration and that people were able to operate in this way?

Hayleigh Colombo: I think it shows just how powerful Thomas Cook was in the Hogsett. administration, in his world, for this entire time. I mean, people know the mayor, right? People know that the mayor is in charge of the city, but they don't ever see this person in the background, who really, from day-to-day strategic decision making, is making this person's administration. So, I think it just underlines to me his importance within local democratic politics.

Briggs: I think one of the things our story points out too is, to a large extent, the chief of staff runs the city. You can argue that certainly the chief of staff has more oversight over the day-to-day management of the city than the mayor does. And that became one of the problems that we talked about in the story, because the women who experienced his behavior felt like they had no avenue to report it. Because even though ostensibly HR has a pathway directly to the mayor, the way it actually worked, as described to us, the chief of staff oversaw absolutely everything from a practical standpoint.

So, if somebody felt comfortable enough to report the behavior, they would have reported it to a supervisor who was ultimately answerable to Thomas Cook, or they would have reported it to HR, which ultimately would have been answerable to Thomas Cook. And so, they felt there was really nowhere to go with this.

Sheridan: The women in your story are calling for a better reporting process. What might that look like for future administrations, and in a city like Indianapolis?

Colombo: I think that that is a question that the Hogsett administration or administrations that come after him will have to answer, because it's clear from our reporting that there's a fundamental flaw of someone not being able to report harassment to a neutral party.

Ultimately, I'm sure other cities and other municipalities have figured this out, but I think it calls into question reporting structures across all levels of government. What happens when the person who's in charge, ultimately answerable to these sorts of allegations, is the person who is allegedly committing sexual harassment?

Sheridan: Well, I thank you both so much for coming in to talk today about your important reporting.

Briggs and Colombo: Thank you. Thank you.

Contact WFYI City Desk Managing Editor Jill Sheridan at jsheridan@wfyi.org.