Warwick Water Division Chief Terry DiPetrillo has been accused of sexual harassment and cultivating an environment of sexism in a recent lawsuit filed by a former Water Division employee.

A day after the allegations were made public, Ward 9 City Councilman Vincent Gebhart called for DiPetrillo’s resignation.

Gebhart said that the behavior alleged in the lawsuit was “unacceptable and incompatible with the values of our community.”

“The residents of Warwick deserve transparency, accountability, and integrity from their public officials,” Gebhart stated. “Our city employees, especially those in crucial services like the Water Division, must feel secure, respected, and free from discrimination in their workplace. These allegations, if true, signify a profound failure in leadership and a serious breach of public trust.”

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court by Bree Boulais, who was a Water Project Supervisor with the Water Division from 2021 through 2023. Defendants named in the lawsuit include the Warwick Water Division, the City of Warwick and Mayor Frank Picozzi in his official capacity.

Boulais allegedly was first sexually harassed on March 11, 2022, when City Controller of Finances Jason Parmelee sent her an email about her attractiveness, which she reported to DiPetrillo and her manager, Michael St. Pierre.

The following Monday, the suit alleges that DiPetrillo sent Boulais an email stating “You look stunning.”

"After Mr. Terry DiPetrillo sent Plaintiff the email, he approached her desk in a taunting manner, with a smirk on his face, and stated ‘Did you receive my email?’” the suit reads. “He then laughed and proceeded to leave the building for the day.”

Over the course of the next week, the suit alleges that DiPetrillo made repeated sexual comments about Boulais in front of coworkers and falsely insinuated that the two were having an affair, including one comment where he told Boulais he “left his socks by her bedside” and another where he asked fellow employee Richard Moniz if he “[would] want to come by [Boulais’s house] later and run a train on her.”

Other incidents alleged by the suit include DiPetrillo informing Boulais that she would be suspended for missing a deadline which she did not miss, and an incident where DiPetrillo’s brother Michael threw a power tool at her while she was heading out to take her lunch break.

The suit alleges that Water Division employees were frequently encouraged not to take those and other incidents to the city’s Human Resources Department and instead keep them “in-house.”

“When Plaintiff was back at her desk, Mr. Terry DiPetrillo learned that his brother was being questioned by HR,” the suit reads. “Suddenly, Mr. Terry DiPetrillo got angry and he proceeded into the area where [fellow coworker Peter] Broomfield and Plaintiff were carrying out their workday. Mr. Terry DiPetrillo then approached them and angrily chastised Plaintiff and Mr. Broomfield for reporting the tool event to HR. Specifically, Mr. Terry DiPetrillo stated, ‘[y]ou should have kept your mouth shut, you guys f***** up.’ Mr. Terry DiPetrillo then continued, in a threatening manner, ‘Great job, you got a good man fired.’”

The suit said that Boulais would later face sexual harassment from St. Pierre as well, including a text in April of 2023 where St. Pierre said that he had developed feelings for her.

Gebhart also mentioned another incident that occurred in August of 2023 where DiPetrillo made a “Nazi joke” in the office to Broomfield, who is Jewish, which included him slapping another employee. Boulais was a witness to the incident.

That resulted in DiPetrillo’s arrest. He pled no contest to a misdemeanor simple assault charge and would return to work later in August. The suit claims that DiPetrillo’s punishment within the city for the incident was a ten-day suspension.

“The presence of anti-Semitic rhetoric and harassment in any form is a direct affront to the principles of equality and respect that our city stands for,” Gebhart stated in a release yesterday. “We cannot tolerate any actions or words that demean or marginalize individuals based on their gender, religion, or any other personal characteristics.”

The suit also alleges that Boulais’ Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) rights were violated. She began mental health treatment on Aug. 29, 2023, around the time DiPetrillo’s suspension ended, and received a note from her therapist two days later providing her with a leave of absence, which she was never offered.

Boulais’s official last day with the Water Division was Oct. 11, 2023.

Picozzi’s media coordinator Liz Tufts said that the city could not comment on the issue since it was a legal matter.

DiPetrillo did not respond to a request for comment.