Mount Pleasant Trustee Candidate Demoted in '07 for Sexual Harrassment

**Updated 7:45 a.m. March 20

Mount Pleasant Village Board candidate and current County Board Supervisor Ronald Molnar was demoted from his position as security director at Racine Correctional Institute in 2007, according to state records obtained by Patch.

At the time of his demotion, Molnar was third from the top command at RCI. Records show he was accused of repeatedly staring at a female employee's breasts, making inappropriate comments and sending her explicit emails from his home computer to her at work.

Molnar denied the accusations and appealed the decision, but he lost in a ruling last year from the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission. The decision notes his demotion was upheld in part because he had a history of poor performance reviews, and because he made false statements during the investigation.

According to the WERC decision:

Molnar's supervisor noted significant performance problems on his 2003-04, 2004-05, and 2005-07 performance reviews ... he knowingly used an RCI vehicle that was not registered despite being advised not to ... DOC suspended him for 10 days in 2007 for (engaging) in "inappropriate and unprofessional confrontations" with both a lieutenant and, two days later, with a female co-worker ... Molnar falsely claimed (the female employee) never told him not to look at her breasts ... he also falsely claimed that he did not recall apologizing.

Molnar told The Journal Times Tuesday that he was the one who was mistreated because it took years to settle his appeal and the original examiner retired, leaving a new examiner to review the case and make a decision.

“That person retires and then a year later you get a decision from somebody that wasn’t even there and you really wonder, ‘What did they rely on? Did they actually listen to (hearing) audio recordings?’” Molnar told the newspaper.

In an email to Patch sent Tuesday night, Molnar responded:

You had left me a voice mail message seeking a response to some information regarding a personnel matter from back in 2007.  I attempted to reach you but got your voice mail.  Regardless, I want you to know all of us have had life lessons and I can surely say that this experience has helped me become a better workplace supervisor and helped to heighten my awareness and sensitivity to others in the workplace.  Since that time,  I've been elected - twice - to represent my community and my neighbors and I work very hard to serve the voters well.  It is now time to move forward and overcome the challenges we have to make Mount Pleasant a better place.