MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. -- A Madeira Beach City Commissioner is in hot water after a report was released Wednesday, showing that she licked an employee’s face and touched him inappropriately.
- Madeira Beach commissioner accused of inappropriate touching
- Former City Manager Shane Crawford accuses commissioner Nancy Oakley
- Complaint filed last week
The report stems from a complaint launched February of year. In the documents former Madeira Beach City Manager, Shane Crawford said City Commissioner, Nancy Oakley touched him inappropriately.
“She grabbed his crotch then slowly licked him from his Adam’s apple all the way up his face,” the report reads.
Several other witnesses gave a similar account to a 2012 incident involving Crawford and Oakley at a city event. Another man claimed Oakley licked his face too. But ethics officials only ruled on Oakley’s behavior towards Crawford.
The report states that there is probable cause to believe that Oakley violated state statute by exhibiting inappropriate behavior with city staff. It took more than a year for the results of this investigation to be revealed.
Several witnesses echoed a similar account in the report. Crawford said he didn’t speak up when this happened out of fear.
“I can’t tell you how hellish my life became when this all began and I just tried to manage it the best I could,” he said. “She was one of my five supervisors.”
Oakley didn’t run for re-election in 2013, so Crawford said he decided not report her. But he said that changed when Oakley decided to run again in 2017. That’s when he filed this report. Not long after Oakley won her seat back.
Once Oakley and two other newly elected city leaders got in office, they were the majority vote in the controversial move to fire Crawford as City Manager along with his wife Cheryl who was the city clerk.
“She had an obvious conflict of interest and she didn’t abstain. The city messed up,” he said. “The city messed up bad. She should not have been able to vote. It would’ve been a two, two vote for both of us and I would still be the city manager and she would still be the city clerk.”
Oakley had no comment Wednesday but her attorney said his client maintains her innocence. In the report she denied the claims saying Crawford was her friend and she didn’t lick his face, she kissed him on the cheek and it wasn’t sexual manner.
We reached out to several city leaders and they all declined to comment on this report and its findings, so there’s no word yet on what comes next.
Oakley’s attorney said this is one of several steps in this process. The probable cause order says there will be a public hearing in this matter and Oakley will have a chance to resolve the complaint and pursue a settlement of this case.
Crawford said he believes she should resign.