A Chicago Park District watchdog said he’s been suspended while investigating allegations of sexual abuse by district lifeguards and thinks he’s being punished for trying to expose officials’ attempts to cover up the misconduct.
Nathan Kipp, the Park District’s deputy inspector general, said he was placed on indefinite emergency suspension last week.
Park District officials gave him no explanation for the move, Kipp said. But he speculated that someone at the Park District doesn’t like how he’s pursuing the growing scandal over alleged sexual abuse and hazing among lifeguards at Park District beaches and pools.
“I can’t think of any reason other than that I have been zealously pursuing this investigation,” Kipp said Thursday.
Asked why Kipp was suspended and whether the timing had anything to do with the ongoing lifeguard investigation, the Park District in a statement Thursday said the district “operates independently of the Office of Inspector General and has absolutely no influence on policies and decisions made by the IG.”
Park District Inspector General Elaine Little’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Kipp suspension.
Kipp noted that days after his suspension, Park District CEO Michael Kelly held a news conference to announce disciplinary action had been taken against 42 employees of the district’s beaches and pools unit, including nine workers tied to an investigation of sexual misconduct and abuse in the unit.
Two high-ranking managers — the assistant director of recreation and the beaches and pools manager — have been suspended without pay.
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Kelly also announced the creation of an office of protection within the Park District to “root out anyone who uses their position to prey on others or turns a blind eye to this despicable behavior.”
In his statement, Kipp termed Kelly’s changes “ineffectual and opaque ‘reforms.’ “
Kipp said in his statement that the Park District and its Board of Commissioners have “repeatedly and successfully exerted improper influence over the (Office of the Inspector General), with the apparent goal of ending the investigation prematurely and as quietly as possible.”
And he said his suspension “is clearly a tactic meant to thwart my unflinching work to expose Park District officials’ attempts to cover up or minimize the culture of criminal sexual misconduct and misogyny that has thrived — and that continues to thrive — throughout the district’s beaches & pools unit.”
At Monday’s news conference, officials said the disciplinary actions taken against beach and pool workers included two firings and six resignations. Spokeswoman Michele Lemons later clarified that neither of the firings were related to the sexual misconduct allegations and that 33 of the discipline cases were for drinking or possessing alcohol on park property.
“These cases were included in the announcement to share the district’s commitment to rooting out all misconduct in beaches and pools,” Lemons said.
Chicago public radio station WBEZ first reported in April that the Park District was investigating wide-ranging claims of sexual misconduct among pool and beach employees.