Delco’s former director of emergency services charged with indecent assault

Tim Boyce, the recently fired director of the Delaware County Department of Emergency Services, was charged Thursday with indecent assault for allegedly groping his executive assistant.

The charges stem from a complaint the woman filed on April 2 with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in which she alleged that Boyce called her into his office, forcibly kissed her, and groped her buttocks during an incident in January.

Boyce, 60, was released on $50,000 unsecured bail. His attorney, Michael Dugan, did not immediately return a request for comment.

Delaware County Council put Boyce on administrative leave April 25 when they learned of the allegations from the state Attorney General’s Office, which began an investigation after a referral from the county District Attorney’s Office. Boyce was fired Friday.

“This type of conduct is a threat to the workplace, where people are supposed to feel safe, and my office views these allegations seriously,” Attorney General Michelle Henry said in a statement Thursday. “Title, power, or status do not give anyone the right to harass and assault employees.”

The woman’s attorney, Mark Schwartz, had contacted District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer about the complaint after growing frustrated by what he described as inaction by county officials over a similar complaint he had filed about Boyce earlier this year. Another employee had complained of ageism in the workplace, saying Boyce gave preferential treatment to young attractive women.

In the EEOC complaint about the alleged assault, obtained by The Inquirer, the woman said Boyce had been a longtime friend of her family. He hired her in December as a part-time coordinator in his department, but promoted her a month later to be his full-time executive assistant, moving her to an office adjacent to his.

She contended this was part of a widely known practice of his to hire and promote “attractive young women, regardless of job description or ability.”

During her time working with Boyce, the woman said, he often made inappropriate comments to her, saying she was “very intriguing” and “had a nice ass,” according to her complaint.

On Jan. 30, she said, Boyce called her into his office and pulled her toward him, grabbing her face and cheeks in an attempt to kiss her, the complaint said. The woman said she turned her head, causing Boyce to kiss her neck instead while asking whether he could touch her backside. He then groped her as she walked away, she said.

The woman said she was shocked and emotionally devastated by his behavior, and quit her job shortly after.

She later confronted him by text message, telling him she was disgusted that he had used “his power as a predatory male and boss” to take advantage of her, she wrote in the EEOC complaint.

That document said Boyce responded to that text, apologizing and saying he never intended to harm her.

Schwartz said Friday that he had filed a third EEOC complaint about Boyce earlier this week involving allegations of prolonged sexual harassment. He declined to elaborate, saying only that the alleged behavior “turned [his] stomach.”