AG Details Sexual Harassment Allegations Against Reams

Attorney General Joseph A. Foster filed a complaint in Merrimack Superior Court on Tuesday seeking the removal of Rockingham County Attorney James Reams.

The 25-page complaint cites several reasons why Reams should be removed, including sexual harassment allegations, pregnancy discrimination, abuse of office misuse of funds and ethics violations.

[To read the Attorney General's complaint, click here.]

The complaint was based on information revealed during a 5-month investigation into Reams in his capacity as the Rockingham County Attorney. The complaint was filed jointly with the Rockingham County Commissioners and seeks the removal of Reams pursuant to RSA 661:9, IV, which provides that “[a]ny officer of a county…may be removed by the superior court for official misconduct.”

Reams was suspended in November of 2013, and has said he will not seek re-election.

The complaint filed Tuesday includes specific allegations of sexual harassment against female employees at the county attorney's office over a 14-year period. Here are some of them:

• In 1999, a few months after taking office, Reams reportedly referred to a female employee as "babe" and asked a female employee why she buttoned the top of her sweater, saying "It makes you look like a prude." He also told a female employee, "You ought to pad your bra, ... that would really make the kid want to talk to you." 
• An assistant county attorney told investigators Reams would say to employees that they should go to his condominium and bring swimsuits because they would all "drink and hop in the hot tub." He also reportedly told a female employee that the fact that she had not been to the condominium "may start affecting her cases."
• An assistant county attorney said she was subjected to "inappropriate and unwanted physical contact" by Reams. On one occasion, Reams noticed that a button at the chest area of her blouse was unbuttoned. As she was walking with items in her hands, Reams came up to her, placed his finger where the button was undone and said something to the effect of, "You've got a little problem there kiddo, not that I mind."
• During a domestic violence conference, Reams reportedly placed his hand on a female employee's thigh and rubbed it with his thumb.
• Reams allegedly made an inappropriate sexual remark to a female assistant county attorney about the high heels she was wearing.
• He reportedly asked female attorneys what kind of birth control they were using. He said he didn't want them becoming pregnant and said they could call him anytime, day or night, if they needed birth control, and he would make sure they got it.
• According to the complaint, Reams' conduct toward women in his office reportedly earned him the nickname "creepy Uncle Jim" around the office.