BILLINGS – The Yellowstone County attorney acknowledged Tuesday he had a sexual encounter with an employee who later left his office, but he said the incident was consensual and he denied any wrongdoing.
Dennis Paxinos, who apologized to his wife, family and office staff, confirmed he was investigated by county commissioners.
The former employee, Stacie Muhlbeier, filed a sexual harassment and retaliation claim against Paxinos in December, shortly after resigning as a legal assistant in the County Attorney’s Office. She said Paxinos continuously harassed her and sexually assaulted her in the office in 2003.
Paxinos said Tuesday the encounter was consensual and started out as a celebration after a big win in a homicide trial.
“Nothing inappropriate took place,” he said. “It was a mutual encounter. It was quickly stopped.”
The commissioners hired an outside investigator, who cleared Paxinos of wrongdoing but suggested he be disciplined for inappropriate conduct.
In a Feb. 2 letter accompanying the investigation report, Commissioner Bill Kennedy said the county would take “no further action” because Muhlbeier’s claims were not substantiated.
But Muhlbeier said she has taken her complaint to the state level.
In a Feb. 11 letter to Montana’s attorney general, she said Paxinos sent her texts and e-mails containing sexual language. The letter also said the attorney performed oral sex on her in the office in March 2003 as she tried to get away.
Paxinos said the text and e-mail messages were “not sent seriously, nor were they received seriously,” and he described the alleged assault as a “mutual encounter.”
In the letter, Muhlbeier also claims that before she filed her grievance, county commissioners offered her money to settle any claims. She said the county told her to “name the amount” of a suitable settlement, but she declined the offer.
Commissioners Kennedy and Jim Reno said Tuesday they did not have any knowledge of a settlement offer made to Muhlbeier by their office.
Muhlbeier also said in her complaint that she was retaliated against in the office when she stopped responding to Paxinos’ suggestive e-mails. Her husband, a Yellowstone County sheriff’s deputy, also has suffered retaliation as a result of his efforts to keep Paxinos away from her, she said. The couple were married in July 2003.