In no way do I have a view on if this is true or not as it is the thing that comes to mind is this could get ugly. It is followed by " what the hell "

Rape allegation against division manager reveals ‘highly sexualized’ culture at state agency
BY WALKER ORENSTEIN
worenstein@thenewstribune.comM
Editor’s note: This story was reported in collaboration with Austin Jenkins of public radio’s Northwest News Network.
An inappropriate sexual culture festered for more than a year within the upper ranks of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife until a rape allegation against a former division manager brought it to light.
A law firm hired by Fish and Wildlife to investigate claims of sexual harassment spawned after the alleged rape found that a group of workers in the agency’s upper echelon often held or tolerated sexually explicit conversations at work. Some engaged in other inappropriate behavior both on the clock and after hours.
ADVERTISING
The firm, MFR Law Group, also reported that the behavior, including at least one case of workplace sexual harassment, largely went unreported and unaddressed by the agency’s top leaders.
The News Tribune, The Olympian and Northwest News Network obtained the report in May through a public records request. The report, issued in 2015, had not previously been made public.
The news outlets asked three experts on workplace culture to review the report.
Steve Hirschfeld, a San Francisco-based lawyer who investigates corporate harassment issues at Hirschfeld Kraemer, said the MFR Law Group investigation showed “a workplace that is highly sexualized with a lot of, presumably, unprofessional banter.”
More than a dozen people named in the report seemed aware of at least one instance of inappropriate behavior. Many were in management positions.
Information revealed by the MFR Law Group investigation forced reflection among top leaders at Fish and Wildlife, who say they were unaware of brewing problems. They took steps to respond to fallout of the rape charge and the agency’s problematic work environment.
But they also painted the issues as emanating from one small faction of an agency, which is composed of roughly 1,900 employees working in Olympia and six regional offices across the state.
“It looked to me like it was this small group of folks going beyond the norm,” said Joe Stohr, deputy director of Fish and Wildlife.
Stohr spoke for the department because Director Jim Unsworth joined Fish and Wildlife while police were investigating the rape allegations. The previous director announced he would retire a few months earlier.
Micah Alpern, a consultant at A.T. Kearney who has helped multiple Fortune 500 companies through culture changes, said the report also revealed other flaws in how the agency operates.
“It comes across as a culture of hesitancy to speak up,” he said.
Manager accused of rape
Scrutiny of the agency’s internal culture began after one of its division leaders, Greg Schirato, was accused of raping another agency employee.
Schirato has been charged with second-degree rape and first-degree burglary in the case. He’s pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial in Thurston County Superior Court.
Schirato, known as an influential and well-liked figure within Fish and Wildlife, joined the agency in 1983 and worked his way up to become deputy assistant director for the Wildlife Division in 2010. He held that position until 2015 when he was fired in response to the MFR report and the rape allegations. Schirato is appealing to get his job back.
According to court records, the alleged rape occurred in December 2014.
Former Fish and Wildlife employee Greg Schirato, 55, is pictured in a screen grab from a prior television interview with KING TV.
KING 5 TV Courtesy
Schirato attended the agency’s Christmas party and then went out drinking in downtown Olympia with three co-workers, the records show.
One of the women who accompanied Schirato and the others said she went home afterward and fell asleep while “very intoxicated,” according to police.
The next morning, she woke up with clothes undone and found signs of a break-in, according to court records.
She called police and said she had intermittent memories of being sexually assaulted while she slept, records show.
Schirato, 55, was charged in April 2015 after detectives said they linked DNA and other evidence to him.
His attorney, Richard Woodrow, said he is confident Schirato will be proven innocent. He said Schirato did not enter the woman’s home that evening.
I DON’T THINK YOU’VE HEARD ME SAY WE’RE NOT CULPABLE. I WISH WE DID KNOW MORE.
Joe Stohr, Deputy Director of Fish and Wildlife
The woman who made the allegations declined to be interviewed for this story due to the pending criminal trial. She has since left Fish and Wildlife.
In January 2015 — while police were still investigating the rape accusation — Schirato and the woman made accusations of sexual harassment against each other at the agency.
The resulting 29-page report by the MFR Law Group found Schirato sexually harassed a woman who reported directly to him and who is not involved in the rape case. The report shows that Schirato told that woman she would be “fun at night” and made comments such as “I can’t believe how beautiful you are; you look so amazing.”
Schirato denied the harassment claim.
According to the report, four women also told MFR investigators that Schirato looked at them or watched them “in an inappropriate manner.”
In addition, some co-workers told MFR that Schirato tried to recruit them for sex.
The MFR report also states that Schirato hosted parties attended by colleagues. People went skinny dipping during at least one of those gatherings, the report shows.
The report states Schirato routinely talked about sex at work.
The firm says at least 11 people reported hearing Schirato make sexual comments or tell stories with sexual overtones. One woman, a manager at Fish and Wildlife, said Schirato brought up “getting naked at parties ... more than a dozen times” at work.
A man who used to be Schirato’s subordinate told MFR investigators that Schirato would talk about sex the same way someone “might go to the office and talk about NCAA basketball.”
Even Stohr, the agency’s deputy director, said Schirato once told him about being naked in a hot tub with women while on vacation in Las Vegas. Stohr said he redirected the conversation, which happened briefly in passing.