The Redlands City Council has agreed to pay a Police Department forensic specialist $475,000 to settle her sexual harassment lawsuit against a former deputy chief who allegedly preyed upon female employees for years.
Under terms of the settlement, announced Tuesday, June 2, by City Attorney Yvette Garcia after a closed session of the council, Geneva Holzer will resign her position and withdraw her lawsuit.
Holzer sued the city in September 2023, alleging former Deputy Chief Mike Reiss sexually harassed her for more than two years and that he and a sergeant tried to destroy evidence of misconduct involving another former department employee. The city later paid that employee $1.2 million to settle her separate sexual harassment lawsuit.
Holzer’s attorney, Daniel Moussatche, said in an email Wednesday that it was important to the city that Holzer resign “and it was an unpleasant work environment and she wanted to move on.”
In a statement, Moussatche said: “We are glad that the city finally resolved what we hope is the last of the sexual harassment cases, but the city has not yet fixed the department and held the people accountable who participated in this corrupt culture.”
He said that while a new police chief is at the helm in Redlands, some of the rank-and-file he claims were culpable in the department culture still work for the department, have been promoted and were never held accountable.
“Until the City cleans up the department, the residents of the city can expect these problems will continue to occur,” Moussatche said.
Holzer’s settlement brings the city’s total lawsuit payouts involving sexual harassment allegations against Reiss and the Police Department to more than $4 million over the past three years.
Holzer alleges the department subjected her to years of sexual harassment, discrimination and a hostile work environment, while tolerating a culture of favoritism. Her lawsuit claims department leaders ignored complaints against Reiss by her and other employees and protected Reiss from accountability.
Holzer further alleges that Reiss and a sergeant who remains employed by the department tried to conceal or destroy evidence that could have corroborated misconduct allegations, including a semen-stained chair she believed linked Reiss and former employee Julie Alvarado-Salcido to sexual activity in her office.
Alvarado-Salcido, the employee who last year settled her lawsuit for $1.2 million, alleged Reiss groomed and coerced her into sexual acts after she was hired as a community service officer in 2017, and that the department fostered a culture in which female employees targeted by higher-ranking officers received preferential treatment.
Reiss has denied wrongdoing, but the allegations triggered not only investigations and multiple lawsuits, but leadership upheaval as well.
After learning of the allegations against Reiss in January 2023 and, concerned about the way the they were being handled by the department, then-Deputy Chief Travis Martinez, in January 2023, took the allegations to the FBI, which launched a federal probe, sources close to the case said on condition of anonymity. The FBI probe ultimately fizzled out, but the allegations against Reiss and the department remained.
Amid the scandal, Police Chief Chris Catren announced his retirement on March 2, 2023, attributing his departure to a work-related back injury. Two days later, Reiss retired.
In June 2023, the city agreed to pay $1.7 million to settle a lawsuit filed by former police Officer Laurel Falconieri and Detective Leslie Martinez. Falconieri alleged Reiss subjected her to sexual harassment, favoritism, discrimination and retaliation after she rejected his advances. Martinez alleged she faced retaliation for supporting Falconieri and reporting misconduct.
The lawsuit described a department culture rife with sexual harassment against female officers whose complaints went ignored by the upper brass and where favored employees received preferential treatment.
Also in June 2023, Martinez filed his own claim against the city, alleging city officials ignored or concealed sexual harassment complaints involving Reiss and retaliated against him after he reported misconduct to outside authorities, including the FBI. Martinez further claimed city leaders tried to suppress evidence of dangerous conditions at a railroad crossing where a woman and her daughter were killed in an April 2023 train collision.
Four months later, Martinez was placed on paid leave, and remained on leave until the city negotiated to settle his claim in April 2025 for nearly $872,000, on the condition that he retire.