An independent investigation into sexual harassment allegations against Huntington Town Supervisor Chad Lupinacci on Long Island were found to be unsubstantiated.
The investigation probed a complaint last February that Lupinacci sent questionable text messages and made sexual advances toward an unidentified former town employee.
The outside counsel hired by the town to look into the allegations said the claims were unsubstantiated. However, they said town workers made “deliberate” attempts to thwart the probe.
"I could not substantiate any allegation of sexual harassment, but I was stymied in my attempt to uncover all the facts by what I believe is deliberate misrepresentation and/or withholding of relevant information," the New York-based Jackson Lewis law firm said.
The investigation was initiated by a Democratic town board member — not the unnamed employee — against Lupiannci, a Republican.
The Huntington GOP said the inquiry was a political attack. Democrats said unsubstantiated claims don't clear Lupinacci of wrongdoing.
Lupinacci still faces sexual harassment allegations in a separate, unrelated civil lawsuit.
In 2018, Brian Finnegan filed a lawsuit against Lupinacci. He alleges Lupinacci sexually harassed and assaulted him in an Albany hotel room in 2017, when the Republican was then a state assemblyman and Finnegan’s boss.
That civil litigation is underway in the courts, but both parties will likely try to use the recent town investigation as source material for making their case.
