Andrew S. Armatas Member Of City’s Ethics Board
by Robert Davis
In a stunning civil lawsuit filed in United States District Court in Denver the powerful and highly politically connected Andrew S. Armatas is accused of sexual assault by a former judicial assistant. Armatas was originally appointed to the bench in 1990 by Mayor Federico Peña and was made the chief presiding judge in 1995 by Mayor Wellington Webb. He retired as chief presiding judge in 2013 but thereafter filled in when other judges were absent.
Armatas is an active member of the five member Denver’s Ethics Commission having been appointed in 2013 by Mayor Michael Hancock who has faced various allegations of sexual misconduct himself while in office.
The Lawsuit
The Complaint in the case captioned Rebecca Norris v. City and County of Denver Case No. 20 CV 1226 was filed on May 1, 2020, and lays out a litany of alleged misdeeds by the judge regarding various women at the courthouse one of whom indicated that Armatas was known as Judge “Touchy Feely.”
The lawsuit alleges job discrimination and retaliation under federal and state law with Ms. Norris being fired in January 2019. She was hired in 2007 as a judicial assistant in Denver County Court and received Employee of the Year Award twice. She asserts she was fired in retaliation for her accusations against Judge Armatas, accusations she says the City ignored for more than two years.
According to the lawsuit, Norris claims she first complained about Judge Armatas in the summer of 2016. The lawsuit says she was working in an empty courtroom when Judge Armatas walked in and sat “uncomfortably close” to her. It also says Judge Armatas said to her, “You look like you like to get dirty. You look like you could get wild.” The Complaint declares “Judge Armatas then immediately made unwelcomed physical advances toward (Norris), kissing her and touching her breasts prompting her to scream at him to get away from her and demanding that he leave, whereupon Judge Armatas quickly left the courtroom.” The lawsuit says Norris informed her immediate supervisor that same day what had happened.
The Termination Letter
While efforts to reach Judge Armatas by the Chronicle have not been successful, his side of the story is at least partially laid out in the City’s Termination Letter to Ms. Norris of which the Chronicle has obtained a copy. The termination letter states Norris’ supervisor denies being told anything. It says Norris told inconsistent stories about what happened with the Judge and changed the date of the alleged incident after she learned the Judge was out of state that day. The termination letter says, “The evidence is clear that you made false allegations of a very serious nature against a judge in order to avoid discipline. The accusation that you told your supervisor immediately after the assault occurred and she did nothing in response is untrue and disturbing. You have betrayed the trust of the County Court with your dishonesty and false reporting.”
The Termination Letter asserts that Norris only brought up the allegations after she was under investigation for inappropriate comments to a co-worker. The Complaint, however, asserts that Judge Barry Schwartz confirmed that Norris advised him of the alleged assault before the disciplinary investigation. In the Com-plaint there are various other individuals identified who Norris told about the alleged assault on or about time the alleged assault occurred.
Norris’ attorney Kenneth Padilla responded that “This is a classic example of victim blaming. My client reported the sexual assault to her supervisor by phone immediately and her supervisor told her to take the day off. Furthermore, it was not documented by the city whatsoever. So reconstructing it three years later is very difficult. . . . Telling them they don’t have the right date, or you don’t remember everything. This happens frequently in sexual assault cases, they try to victimize the victim.”
Denver Ethics Board
In a bit of irony Judge Armatas was appointed to the Denver Ethics Board in 2013 by Denver Mayor Michael Hancock with his most recent term ending in 2021. Hancock was accused of sexually harassing a female police officer assigned to his security detail and the City paid a significant settlement in the case, but Hancock managed to avoid any discipline. Cases of sexual harassment are handled by the Office of Human Resources who developed a new sexual harassment training program for other city officials but cleared Hancock of any wrongdoing. It has been asserted that in the City and County of Denver there is one set of rules for the powerful like Mayor Hancock and former Chief Presiding Judge Armatas and another for everyday employees.
Bankruptcy
The Norris Complaint is not the first brush with notoriety for Judge Armatas. In March 1995 just two months after being raised to Chief Presiding Judge for Denver’s County Courts by former Mayor Wellington Webb he filed for federal bankruptcy under Chapter 7. He listed a mere $16,094 in assets, with and extraordinary $2,659,035 in liabilities. Patty Calhoun in her article in Westword (April 5, 1995) stated that Armatas’ explanation of the 1980s downturn in the real estate market leaves “a real odor in the court.”
The article notes that “when Mayor Wellington Webb asked Armatas to become the presiding judge, Armatas had to know that his bankruptcy filing was imminent. Rather than show judgment, though, he accepted the appointment.” The article goes on to note of the sealing of the divorce records of Armatas and federal tax liens filed against him
Allegations By Other Women
The federal Complaint by Norris set forth a myriad of other allegations by women working in the Denver County system which will be extremely embarrassing for Judge Armatas if allowed in the court proceedings. In July of 2018 Norris retained the services of Employment Matters, an outside consulting firm to help investigate her allegations and that of others. The Complaint states (underlines added):
“Nicole Coburn . . . who was employed by the [the City] as a courtroom clerk stated that Judge Armatas asked her out for drinks several times . . . that he asked for her phone number and that she gave it to him, thinking it was just to talk about work, but ‘then it got weird’; that he texted her on different occasions; that he asked her to meet him for drinks on weekends and after work; that she thought his behavior was creepy because he kept coming to her work area asking to go out with him and because ‘he’s so old.’ Judge Armatas was in his seventies and Ms. [Coburn] is in her thirties.”
“Stacie Beckwith, the Finance Manager for the Denver County Court, informed the Clerk and chief administrative officer of the Denver Count [sic] Court, Terrie Langham, that Judge Armatas had asked her out for coffee; that when she met him Judge Armatas asked her whether she had informed her husband about their meeting, that when she told Armatas that she told her husband everything, Judge Armatas responded that he didn’t tell his wife, touching her hand as she was holding her coffee cup in a way that she felt to be flirtatious and highly inappropriate . . . .”
“Connie Strehler, another Denver County clerk, stated that she worked in the adjoining courtroom that shared space for the courtroom clerks where Judge Armatas worked and that therefore, she had frequent contact with Judge Armatas. Also she said that after Judge Armatas retired, he filled in for her judge; that Judge Armatas always liked to hug female employees of the Denver County Court; that she did not appreciate Judge Armatas hugging her; . . . that Judge Armatas was known as Judge “Touchy Feely”; that Judge Armatas liked to hug a lot and that he hugged ‘the ladies.’ Not just her; and that on one occasion Judge Armatas caressed her hand, rubbing his hand on top of her hand, in a way she did not appreciate.”
The City has yet to file an Answer but a Scheduling and Planning Conference by phone has been set for August 12, 2020. The case has been assigned to recently appointed Federal District Court Judge Daniel D. Domenico.
