Deerfield Township trustees are investigating two sexual harassment allegations, one against a female trustee and the other against a male fire department employee, according to complaints obtained by The Portager and interviews.
Trustee Tiffany Havens is being investigated for allegedly having harassed a township road department employee. And part-time Deerfield Fire Department firefighter/paramedic Brian Kelderhouse is under investigation for allegedly having harassed a female fire department member.
Havens did not respond to The Portager’s request for comment regarding either allegation. Havens has recused herself from all votes regarding the matter in which she is involved and would not discuss it.
In a certified letter obtained by The Portager, the road department employee stated that on numerous occasions since the spring of 2023, Havens made “unwanted sexual advances,” inappropriately touched him, engaged in “unwanted flirting” and rubbed his shoulders. The letter, dated July 1, was signed for by Trustee Ed Dean on July 5.
The man further stated that several township employees had witnessed Havens’ “unwarranted and unprovoked” actions multiple times and wrote that each incident had occurred on township property while he was on the clock.
He declined further comment, stating that he would be glad to speak with The Portager when the investigation is complete.
Although the names of the employees who made the complaints are in the public record, The Portager is not naming them while the investigations are underway to protect the privacy of potential victims of sexual harassment.
Dean said he left copies of the letter in sealed envelopes on Havens’ and Trustee Laura Lindberg’s desks at the town hall. He said he notified his colleagues about the letters, but received no response.
Dean said he called the Portage County Prosecutor’s Office that same day for advice. During the trustees’ July 8 meeting, Dean said the prosecutor’s office told him a qualified private individual could conduct an investigation. Dean said he also contacted the Portage County Sheriff’s Office and learned they would investigate Havens at no charge to the township.
Dean suggested on July 8 that the trustees could retain retired Hiram Police Chief Ed Samec at no cost, but Havens objected, saying the two men are friends.
Lindberg ultimately agreed to having the sheriff’s office conduct the Havens investigation. Lindberg did not respond to The Portager’s request for comment, but Dean said he authorized the sheriff’s office to begin the investigation shortly after the trustees’ July 22 meeting.
Lindberg had initially supported hiring attorney Gregory A. Beck of the North Canton law firm Baker Dublikar, and on July 22 encouraged the trustees to hire an out-of-county investigator, but Dean rejected her formal motion. He said the township is already reeling from a $14,000 bill incurred during the separate sexual harassment investigation against part-time Deerfield Fire Department employee Kelderhouse.
In that matter, a Deerfield Fire Department employee notified township trustees on Nov. 20 that Kelderhouse had created “a hostile work environment including sexual harassment,” not only for her but for other female department members.
The complainant alleged that although she and Kelderhouse had a good working relationship, he had sent “many photographs” of him without a shirt on to her and other female department members.
“It’s extremely inappropriate, but I’ve always tried to remain [professional]. I’ve always just ignored the messages and not said anything because I didn’t want to create an issue in the department, or to have to worry about him getting mad and what he would do because I told someone about it,” she wrote.
In an interview, Kelderhouse said he sent her and other people shirtless photos of himself working out at the fire station because “I’m proud of the way I look.”
The complaint letter also references Kelderhouse asking a mutual friend to send him a topless picture of her.
“This is not okay,” she wrote. “I should not have to come to work and worry about being sexualized by a co-worker. Nor should I have to worry about a co-worker asking one of my best friends for a picture of my breasts.”
Kelderhouse doesn’t deny having made the request, but told The Portager he was joking. He said he asked for the nude photo while she and the friend were in a hot tub together. He said he received a photo but immediately deleted it from his phone. He also claimed that an investigator working for Beck told him it was a fake.
The woman also said Kelderhouse had sent her “very unprofessional messages,” allegedly calling her out for telling other people that she neither liked nor trusted him.
“I have said no such thing to anyone about him,” she wrote. “And even if I had, the point of the conversation that I was having with him was to try to find coverage for an open shift at the fire station, not to debate about whether or not there’s he-said-she-said drama.”
She alleged that Kelderhouse was refusing to communicate with her at all, even when she sent him messages asking if he was available to cover shifts at the station.
“This makes it harder for me to do my job, because he is playing games and being immature instead of just answering a simple yes or no question,” the woman wrote, closing with the accusation that, “Brian is exhibiting extremely petty and inappropriate behavior and something needs to be done about this.”
Deerfield trustees suspended Kelderhouse with pay when they received the complaint and retained Beck to represent the township.
Kelderhouse said he thought he and the woman were friends, and that the complaint came as a complete surprise.
He said he believes the complaint has its real roots in a Nov. 20 visit then trustee-elect Lindberg made to the fire station. He recalled showing her around and hearing her say that more Deerfield Fire Department members should be responding to calls for help. Too many calls were being handled by mutual aid, which meant slower response times, he recalls Lindberg saying. He said he called out two firefighters by name, including the woman who filed the complaint; he said she lives nearby and doesn’t respond to calls.
The woman did not respond to a request for comment.
A public hearing to air the evidence against Kelderhouse is set for Aug. 26 at Deerfield’s town hall. The trustees will then determine disciplinary action, if any, Dean said.
Dean said the credibility of either of the sexual harassment allegations is unknown until the results of the investigations.
Wendy DiAlesandro is a former Record Publishing Co. reporter and contributing writer for The Portager.