Firefighter facing exposure charge accused of sexual harassment
TAMPA –
Had Hillsborough County firefighter Julio Colon not been charged with exposing himself in Hernando County, a female firefighter at his station may never have stepped forward with similar allegations, authorities said.
Colon, 29, was charged last month with exposing himself twice in Hernando County, where he lives, once to a jogger outside an elementary school and then in front of a 16-year-old girl.
Now, a female firefighter who works at Station 40 on North Nebraska Avenue says Colon sexually harassed her in March.
The female firefighter, whose name was not released, did not file a complaint until after Colon’s September arrest and suspension, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokesman Ray Yeakley said.
The reason for the delay, Yeakley said, was that the female at the time “didn’t want to speak out. She didn’t want to bring it up. But with the other stuff happening, she thought it was necessary to push on this.”
The details are in a Sept. 25 memo from the personnel division Chief Chip Branam to fire rescue Chief Bill Nesmith:
The female firefighter said she had just returned from a call and she was in her bunk with the curtain closed trying to get some sleep at the station when the light came on and the curtain was pulled aside by Colon, who was standing there naked.
The memo said that she yelled at him to leave her alone; that this wasn’t funny. She said a few minutes later the curtain was pulled aside again and Colon was standing there naked. He ejaculated onto her sheets, the memo said. She yelled and punched him to move him out of the way. He apologized and said the whole thing was a joke, the memo said.
She initially balked at reporting the incident, she later told a supervisor, because of her “history” with the department, that being three attempts to pass the fire suppression certification test. She said she didn’t want to make “waves” within the department by reporting a fellow firefighter.
A supervisor told her the behavior was inappropriate at best and criminal at worst. He said she could report it to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office if she chose. The memo said the woman had not yet decided whether to pursue criminal charges.
After his arrest in Brooksville on Sept. 17, Colon was placed on administrative leave with pay, which lasted for five days, Yeakley said. He has since been placed on unpaid leave, Yeakley said, and is in the process of being terminated by the department.
In September, Colon was accused of exposing himself outside Challenger Elementary School in Spring Hill, according to Hernando deputies, who said the incident occurred in July and was witnessed by a 41-year-old jogger. School was not in session at the time.
The jogger said he was passing the school and heard someone holler at him from a blue Chevrolet Impala. He turned to see a naked man step out of a car. The jogger ran into the school.
Deputies said a similar occurrence happened in Brooksville on Sept. 11, when a 16-year-old girl was walking to her home and spotted a blue Impala pulling off the road.
The vehicle’s driver yelled to get her attention and she turned to see the man naked and jumping up and down beside his car, deputies said.
The girl got a partial license plate number, and deputies were able to track it to the blue Impala owned by Colon, who lives in Spring Hill. The teen identified Colon from a photo lineup, deputies said.
On Sept. 17, detectives interviewed Colon in Hernando County, and he gave a statement about both incidents, along with other exposure incidents in Hernando and Hillsborough counties, deputies said.
Colon has been a firefighter and paramedic in Hillsborough County since April 2006.
Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760.
