In this week's New Times, we laid out the case for indicting North Miami Mayor Andre Pierre. Now, Pierre's administration has just named Marc Elias Jr. as acting chief.
Yes, the one and same Marc Elias Jr. who was fired as chief in Florida City a couple years back over two allegations of sexual harassment and battery.
Elias was serving as Florida City's top cop in 2001 when a former dispatcher who had worked as Elias's secretary filed a complaint that he'd sexually harassed her, according to Miami Herald clips.
Elias countered that he'd fired the woman for not doing her job properly and the complaint was simply retaliation. "If sexual harassment is an excuse people are using nowadays to keep their jobs, that is sad,'' Elias told the Herald at the time.
In January 2002, another woman who worked as a clerk accused Elias of sexual battery.
That charge was investigated by Miami-Dade police and dismissed.
However, the allegations were enough to cost Elias his job in Florida City. He was fired in August 2002, with Mayor Otis Wallace telling the Herald that police "felt threatened at their jobs as opposed to worrying about what was happening in the streets."
Elias has been an assistant chief in North Miami since last November; he replaces Stephen Johnson, whom Pierre named interim city manager last month.
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