Editor's Note: Some of the language in this story includes details from three lawsuits filed against the city of Holly Hill that some readers may find graphic and disturbing.

HOLLY HILL, Fla. — Three Holly Hill Police Department employees have sued the city of Holly Hill over years of what one called "sexual harassment, a hostile work environment, gender discrimination, and retaliation."

The lawsuits come after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission cleared the way for the women to file, and follow a Volusia County Sheriff's Office report containing explosive allegations of misconduct by former high-ranking officers that went on for years.

Due to the sexual nature of the alleged offenses, Spectrum News is not naming the women involved in the lawsuits — two of which were filed at the end of January, while the third was filed on March 20.

They all stem from a Volusia County Sheriff's Office investigation report that was released in June 2024, that contained serious allegations of misconduct against then-Chief Jeff Miller, Capt. Chris Yates and Sgt. Shannon Fountain, who all resigned following the initial inquiry into the department. 

The investigation started in February 2024, when Miller asked the Sheriff’s Office to investigate a complaint from a female officer regarding her male supervisor.

The inquiry prompted a larger investigation, which led to the resignations of Miller, Yates and Fountain. A fourth officer named in the report, Sgt. Tom Bentley, faced discipline in connection with the allegations but did not lose his job.

Serious allegations made

The report details interviews with current and former officers and staffers who alleged sexual acts were not only talked about around others, but they were performed in front of them.

The interviewees told sheriff's office investigators that Miller and Yates allegedly asked women to expose themselves. In one incident detailed in the report, the now-former chief is accused of cornering a female officer in a record storage room and telling her to lift her shirt.

Another staff member claimed the chief exposed and touched himself in front of her.

The lawsuits against the city lay out the women's allegations in great detail — which include instances of being groped by Miller and Yates, a constant barrage of sexually inappropriate comments and repeated propositions for sex acts.

In the most recent lawsuit, the department employee alleged that the "defendant’s discriminatory environment escalated into one of blatant sexual harassment."

She accused the city of hiring Miller despite knowing there was a "recognized pattern of sexually harassing female employees from his prior employment."

"Knowing Plaintiff feared for her job with (the city), Defendant's Managing Agent Chief Miller engaged in a pattern of barging into Plaintiff's office and demanding to see her breasts because 'he was having a really bad day,'" the lawsuit said. "Defendant's Managing Agent, Captain Yates, would also demand to see Plaintiff's breasts."

In another instance described in the suit, the female employee said Miller allegedly offered her $100 to perform a sex act on him, and when she refused, he increased the amount to $500, which she also refused.

As the alleged abuse went on, the woman who filed the March 20 lawsuit against the city said the "harassment escalated to unwanted and unwelcome touchings of Plaintiff."

"Chief Miller routinely called Plaintiff into his office, where Captain Yates would be hiding behind the door, and turn off the lights," the lawsuit alleged. "Both Chief Miller and Captain Yates would grab Plaintiff, tickle her, and grope her breasts and buttocks. Each time, Plaintiff left upset and humiliated while Chief Miller and Captain Yates laughed at her. At no point did Plaintiff consent to Chief Miller and Captain Yates’s unlawful touching of her."

The woman said that Miller's alleged misconduct only increased after she went through a divorce. 

"Chief Miller demanded Plaintiff let him touch her breasts, kiss her neck, grope her buttocks, and asked her to suck his penis," the lawsuit said.

"When Plaintiff told Chief Miller no, he would attempt to pressure her into engaging in sexual acts with him by saying, 'Oh come on you don't have to do anything,' 'Why do you have an attitude,' 'It will be real quick,' 'They are just breasts it's no big deal,' 'You have a special place in my heart,' 'You know how I feel about you,' and 'If I wasn't married, you know that I would be married to you.'"

In one of the more graphic allegations in the lawsuit, the female employee accused Miller of using "his position of authority over Plaintiff in (an) attempt to coerce Plaintiff into sexual activity by telling her that if she showed him her breasts then he would let her leave her shift early."

When she refused, the Plaintiff accused Miller of closing the door to her office — which locked automatically — forcibly lifting her shirt, "and held onto her shirt preventing her from leaving, and masturbated."

"When he finished, he wiped himself off and told Plaintiff she could leave an hour early," the lawsuit alleged. "Plaintiff was disgusted, shocked and embarrassed he would do this to her."

In another instance, the lawsuit accused Yates of going into her office uninvited and asking her, "When was the last time you had sex?" among other "intimate questions."

Two lawsuits discuss the same alleged incident

One specific situation was detailed in two of the lawsuits — the one filed on March 20 and one of the ones filed in January.

"Defendant's Managing Agents, Chief Miller and Captain Yates, locked Plaintiff and her female coworker, (second plaintiff), in (the second plaintiff's) office with them," the lawsuit said. "Chief Miller sat on (the second plaintiff's) lap and grinded his pelvis against hers. Chief Miller grabbed both of her hands and forced her to rub his thighs in an effort to make her touch his penis."

"Chief Miller and Captain Yates then groped Plaintiff. When they were finished, Chief Miller and Captain Yates laughed as they walked out."

Both women noted this last detail in their individual lawsuits.

The second plaintiff, who filed her lawsuit against the city on Jan. 31, also accused Miller of masturbating in front of her.

"Chief Miller instructed Plaintiff to ride along with him and after he parked in Ross Point Park he told Plaintiff how stressed and horny he was and that he needed to relieve himself. He unzipped this pants and pulled out his penis and began to masturbate," the Jan. 31 lawsuit said, adding that once he finished, Miller allegedly "zipped up his pants as if nothing had happened."

The third police department employee, who also filed her lawsuit on Jan. 31, made similar allegations against Miller and Yates, but included others involving Fountain. 

She accused him of sending her a nude photo of himself only wearing a towel, telling her that "she needed to put her lips to 'good use,'" took pictures of her buttocks and "texted them to her while she was on duty," told her he was her "sugar daddy by proxy" because he controlled her pay, and told her that she needed to "get laid or take the tampon out of her a--," among others.

All three women said in their lawsuits that they reported the behavior to the city, but nothing was done until the Volusia County Sheriff's Office report was released. In the meantime, they alleged retaliation for their complaints.

Miller was ultimately replaced as police chief by then-Daytona Police Capt. Byron Williams.

“I think the first thing I want to do is make sure that they feel safe and they begin to heal from this incident that transpired over the last couple of months,” Williams told Spectrum News in June 2024. “I know this was something traumatic for them, and I want them to know that I’m coming in as someone that they can believe in, they can trust, and they can get behind as I lead this organization.”