Toledo’s own text-messaging sex scandal
With all of the news related to what happened in Detroit and that story that involved a text-messaging scandal, Toledo has it’s own situation that involves text-messaging. Thanks to the investigative work of George Tanber at The Newsmeister comes this story, Toledo Water Commissioner/Pastor Retires Amid Lewd Text Messaging Affair. I recommend reading the piece in full, but one small part of it:
When the city’s water commissioner, Willie Perryman, Jr., suddenly retired on Sept. 23 from his $65,000-a-year job, there was little surprise at City Hall.
Perhaps Mayor Carty Finkbeiner and his top aides, Tom Kroma and Robert Reinbolt, encouraged him to leave. Or maybe Perryman, the longtime pastor at Jerusalem Baptist Church on Dorr Street, had had enough after a tumultuous six weeks.In his brief memo to Finkbeiner, submitted the day he retired, Perryman, 49, said he was leaving his job to devote more time to his ministry.
Not addressed by Perryman, the Finkbeiner administration or anyone else was the real reason behind the departure.
City documents obtained by The Newsmeister.com reveal that last summer Perryman sent an unspecified number of shockingly explicit sexual text messages to a temporary clerk in the city’s Neighborhoods Department.
From story Tanber wrote, a portion concerning Perryman’s position:
Perryman, in his affidavit, portrayed Fuseini as the aggressor. “(She) encouraged and participated in these communications and never voiced any disdain for them until she would feel guilty. At that time, I would have no further discussions with her until she would again contact me.”
Asked for proof of sexual text messages, e-mails or anything sent by Fuseini to Perryman, Perryman’s attorney, Richard Mitchell said, “Those things exist with the text and e-mail providers. The reality of it is, (Perryman is) not interested in furthering this matter in any way.”
Brown (Calvin), in a Sept. 11 report, concluded: “Mr. Perryman did exhibit actions that were unbecoming of a city employee in a leadership role.”
There were rumors out there about this story for several months now, so major kudos to George for uncovering this…
Absolutely disgusting.
If this is true:
“After seeing the text messages from Perryman, Brown told Fuseini the city could offer her group therapy at no cost and an apology letter from Perryman.”
The city should pony up.
February 6th, 2009 at 9:24 amAs George told me this morning during our interview there is still the possibility that Fuseini could sue the city. She of course is afraid of retaliation from the 22nd floor which is really a shame. People who work for the city shouldn’t fear the adminstration, they should expect support from it instead. That won’t change until we change it.
February 6th, 2009 at 10:55 amGeorge didn’t mention he was on your show, so thanks for the update.
February 6th, 2009 at 11:10 amHe probably didn’t feel the need to since I posted it on Swampbubbles last night.
February 6th, 2009 at 11:23 amI haven’t headed over there today, else I would have mentioned it, but since you did? Thank you for the update.
February 6th, 2009 at 11:26 amThe Toledo Free Press has a non-graphic version of the story up on their website as well.
February 6th, 2009 at 11:35 amWell that’s a terrible course of conduct for a minister to engage in. And a married man.
If Fuseini did not tell the City though-how could they be responsible?
I’d say once they did know and chose not to fire or hold the guy accountable, at that point they’d be liable.
And that fact would be very damaging to someone who was afraid to say anything in the first place. It looks like the City doesn’t have much of a problem with an employee behaving this way.
But I do. A BIG problem. This guy is running a CHURCH?
Unbelievable. And notice that after he was told he’d been found out, he takes NO accountability for his behavior. He says ’she’ ruined his life.
Disgusting.
February 6th, 2009 at 12:00 pmWe don’t know when the Mayor knew about the text messages or the other accusations, that’s not something yet in evidence, but considering the position he took on Hartung, if he was being consistent, you’d think that he would have wanted to see Perryman either disciplined or terminated.
Even if Perryman was correct in it being a mutual relationship, it’s clear that’s not an appropriate method of communicating with employees on or off the work premises. It’s also worth pointing out even if it did start as a consensual joking around type contact, as soon as one party said they were not comfortable with it, it should have stopped.
February 6th, 2009 at 12:07 pmAfter all of this, does he have a ministry to go devote himself to?
February 6th, 2009 at 1:13 pmPardon my ignorance, but what is news-worthy about this gossip-pointless bit? This is nothing more than a big “who cares” which impacts NO ONE except for Perryman and Fuseini.
And lastly why is Perryman and Fuseini text-messaging/e-mailing each other to begin with? They are both at fault from day one for crossing this line (going from professional to personal) and they both should be dismissed with NO MERIT AND NO REWARD FROM TAXPAYERS. The taxpayers and city government should have immunity in this childish situation.
February 6th, 2009 at 2:01 pmIt’s beyond gossip since it references public records information, including the text messages. It also could end up being a lawsuit, which would cost the taxpayers dollars.
I don’t disagree with you Rockets that neither party should have been engaging in text-messaging it becomes a larger problem when one states they wanted it to stop.
February 6th, 2009 at 2:16 pmAt this situation here, I am not surprised!…
Anyway, in the black community,(yes I am black), some people hold the ministers in a high regard. And to make these people feel like they have been led by a fool, is insulting. In the black church, some people take paying their tithes and trusting their pastor very seriously.
And the fact that he has this beautiful wife at home… He should be ashamed of himself. Hopefully he will be smart enough to step down from the church too.
February 6th, 2009 at 5:14 pmBrown, in a Sept. 11 report, concluded: “Mr. Perryman did exhibit actions that were unbecoming of a city employee in a leadership role.”
I must agree with the unbecoming of a city employee part, but it really is unbecoming of a human being! What a pig!
Qween – If he does not step down from the church the congregation needs to take him down. What a disgusting man.
February 7th, 2009 at 11:24 amIt takes two to tango. My question is how did he get her phone number unless she gave it to him? Not saying that he was right or anything if this did happen, but you’ve got to wonder.
February 7th, 2009 at 3:30 pmTruth, that is a valid point to raise, it does take two to tango however, someone who is in a management position is supposed to lead by example. Which might be why some place a larger degree of the responsibility on Perryman, while he states he received similar text messages from her, that didn’t appear to be documented/shared.
February 7th, 2009 at 3:45 pmI totally agree Lisa. It was just one of those questions in the back of my mind. There is a high level of responsibility in the three positions he held/holds. Manager, Pastor, Family Man.
February 7th, 2009 at 3:57 pmIt was a good question to raise, that’s also why I included the excerpt from George’s story that related to Perryman’s position, so that it didn’t appear one sided for those who didn’t head over to read the story in full on Newsmeister.
It’s a bit hard to remember there is always two sides to the story when you are confronted with the graphic language used in the text messages, since we don’t know how she responded, we don’t know if that was extreme or how the two messaged each other. All of that said, if she did tell him to stop as she stated, forgetting the fact that neither one of them should have been doing it in the first place, he should have stopped.
February 7th, 2009 at 4:01 pmWhy can’t the city hire a qualified professional to be the water department commissioner? Does he even have the proper class IV operator’s license? How can the city risk it’s drinking water quality to such a man? Democratic politics as usual is endangering our water supply
February 7th, 2009 at 10:50 pmIT APPEARS TO ME THAT PERRYMAN HAS ALREADY BEEN TARRED AND FEATHERED BY THE PUBLIC. HE WAS WRONG WITH WHAT HE WAS DOING, BUT HE HAD TO HAVE HAD SOME ENCOURAGEMENT SINCE HE HAD HER CELL PHONE NUMBER.
February 18th, 2009 at 11:35 amAS A WORKING INDIVIDUAL, I WOULD NEVER GIVE MY PHONE NUMBER TO MY “BOSS”. SHE ADMITTED THAT SHE BEFRIENDED HIM, HE DID NOT SEEK HER OUT. AS TO PROOF OF HIS STATEMENT THAT SHE WAS ALSO TEXT MESSAGING HIM, ASK YOURSELF WHO SAVES TEXT MESSAGING ONCE THEY HAVE READ IT. I BELIEVE THIS WAS A PLAN BY THE “ALLEGED” VICTIM TO GET MONEY OR A POSITION WITH THE CITY.
IT APPEARS TO ME THAT PERRYMAN HAS ALREADY BEEN TARRED AND FEATHERED BY THE PUBLIC. HE WAS WRONG WITH WHAT HE WAS DOING, BUT HE HAD TO HAVE HAD SOME ENCOURAGEMENT SINCE HE HAD HER CELL PHONE NUMBER.
February 18th, 2009 at 11:36 amAS A WORKING INDIVIDUAL, I WOULD NEVER GIVE MY PHONE NUMBER TO MY “BOSS”. SHE ADMITTED THAT SHE BEFRIENDED HIM, HE DID NOT SEEK HER OUT. AS TO PROOF OF HIS STATEMENT THAT SHE WAS ALSO TEXT MESSAGING HIM, ASK YOURSELF WHO SAVES TEXT MESSAGING ONCE THEY HAVE READ IT. I BELIEVE THIS WAS A PLAN BY THE “ALLEGED” VICTIM TO GET MONEY OR A POSITION WITH THE CITY.
Regardless of whether a woman gives someone her phone number or not – and that includes co-workers -that does not give ANY man a right to send a woman these kind of lewed and lascivious text messages. This minister gives new meaning to “phone sex!” I just get tired of hearing the implication that it’s a woman’s fault if she gets sexually harassed at work, raped by an acquaintance, or beaten by a spouse and that “she brought it on herself.” If you saw the text messages, it should be obvious that there was no “tango” (which would require two willing partners); all the graphic sexual references were only coming from one of the two people involved and while I don’t doubt that she was friendly and maybe even a little flirtatious, this woman obviously did not want to have an affair with this man or he wouldn’t have had to extol his “virtues” in such a lusty fashion. As for him being a minister, well, they’re men, too. No one is immune from the temptations of the flesh, including those who preach against it. However, the work place is NO PLACE for this kind of behavior.
February 22nd, 2009 at 3:16 amPLEASE REMEMBER THAT HIS SIDE OF THE STORY IS NOT BEING TOLD. SO U DO NOT KNOW IF IT WAS ‘TANGO’ OR NOT. TECHNOLOGY HAS IMPROVED SO MUCH THAT SHE COULD HAVE PLANTED THAT EVIDENCE HERSELF. PLEASE ALSO NOTE HER PAST ALTERCATION IN THE WORKING ENVIRONMENT. EVERYONE IS ENTITLED TO THEIR OWN OPINION AND IN MY OPINION SHE IS TRYING TO WORK HER WAY UP TO THE TOP AND BRING ANYONE DOWN THAT SHE MUST IN ORDER TO REACH HER HIGHEST MARK. SHE SHOULD NOT HAVE GIVEN HER NUMBER OUT TO ANYONE SUPERIOR TO HER FOR PERSONAL CHATS ANYWAY. HANDLE ALL NECESSARY CONVERSATIONS IN THE WORKING PLACE. HE IS NOT AT FAULT HERE, SHE DID NOT TURN IN HER RESPONSES TO THOSES TEXTS DID SHE? NO, THE FINGER SHOULD BE POINTED AT HER. IM NOT SAYING EITHER OF THE INDIVIDUALS WERE RIGHT IN THIS SITUATION- BUT LETS JUST SAY THE EVIDENCE LINKED TOGETHER IN THIS STORY SOUNDS LIKE A PLOT. SHE IS ALSO MARRIED SO BEING A WIFE SHE SHOULD NOT HAVE GIVEN HER NUMBER OUT, EVEN THOUGH HE SHOULD NOT HAVE ACCEPTED IT AS HUSBAND. I AM TIRED OF EVERYONE BLAMING THE MALE IN THIS SITUATION; THE WOMAN IS JUST AS WRONG AND SHOULD BE PUNISHED AS WELL. THIS IS A ONE SIDED ARTICLE AND DOES NOT SEEM RELIABLE ENOUGH TO ACCUSE ANYONE OF ANY CRIME.
February 26th, 2009 at 12:42 am