Who is Evelina Medina? School principal allegedly forced secretary to take half-naked pics
WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NEW YORK: A female school principal has been sued by her former secretary on allegations of sexual harassment. Gisselle Vasquez served as a secretary to Evelina Medina, the principal of Robert C Dodson School, for two years. According to the lawsuit, during that time, Vasquez was forced by Medina to take photos of the principal in intimate postures.
On other occasions, Medina allegedly put Vasquez in compromising situations by making her buy lingerie for herself or sharing explicit photos of Medina's lover. Other than Medina, Vasquez also faced inappropriate sexual gestures and advances from multiple other school officials like assistant principals Sandra Guzman and Christopher Cassano, whom she has named in the lawsuit.
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Who is Evelina Medina?
Reportedly, Vasquez's ordeal as Evelina Medina's secretary started in May 2018 and continued over two years, despite her repeated complaints to Yonkers School superintendent Edwin Quezada who failed to take any action.
According to the information mentioned in the lawsuit, as shared by DailyMail, Medina once texted Vasquez the photo of a man lying on the bed in his underwear, asking her to save the photo on her behalf. The following day, she called Vasquez to take a photo of her as she stripped down to her thong underwear and posed in a racy posture. The incident happened inside the school as she handed the phone to Vasquez asking her to close the door behind.
"When I looked back, her pants were already down. I was shocked. I didn’t know what to think. I really just froze. I worried that if I just left her office there could be a student or employee or anyone there. Her office is in the main office and there is a lot of traffic," Vasquez revealed to New York Post.
Afterward, she forwarded the bare-bottomed photo to Vasquez asking her to edit out the visible 'dimples' and 'cellulite'. Five days after that, Medina shared the naked photo of a man holding his erect penis, instructing Vasquez to save the photo for her as well. "On more than one occasion, Medina made comments about her lover’s penis size and how it satisfied her more despite being smaller than her husband’s penis size,” she mentioned in the lawsuit.
On multiple occasions, Medina even forced her secretary to read out the sexts exchanged between her and her lover. Later, she also asked her to book a suite for her to meet with her lover. "I don’t know why she thought it was OK. Maybe because she thought I was just her secretary and I wasn’t going to say or do anything," Vasquez said, further adding an instance when Medina ordered her to buy lingerie in her size from an adult store. In a later occasion, she “forcefully grabbed [Vasquez] by the neck and throat to show her what she wanted to do with her lover," states the lawsuit.
In spite of complaining to a supervising clerk, she alleges, no action was taken. Even her request to be transferred was ignored by HR. Additionally, other school educators like Guzman casually joked about her sex life, while assistant principal Christopher Cassano often asked her inappropriate questions like, "How often do you have sex?” A few months later, Cassano attempted to kiss [Vasquez] on the lips at the back of the main office when she was washing a plate."
After facing such incidents, Vasquez directly mailed the Yonkers superintendent Edwin Quezada stating how she felt 'extremely uncomfortable' at Dodson. In response, Quezada simply replied 'Thank you' and ignored the matter henceforth.
The HR later dubbed her complaints 'unfounded' and closed her case. “My professionalism exceeds the expectations of that facility. To this day I can’t believe that this happened to me. I didn’t see it coming. It’s disturbing. I’m disgusted and embarrassed," she shared with New York Post after filing the lawsuit.
