On Thursday, Stephanie Cockrell, a 13-year veteran of the San Diego Police Department, announced her intent to file a lawsuit against the department for sexual harassment, retaliation and discrimination.
Cockrell stood alongside her attorney, Emilia Arutunian, who is with the firm Antonyan Miranda, to announce that they have already filed complaints with the state’s civil rights department against SDPD, paving the way for a lawsuit.
In the Sept. 15 complaint, it reads that Cockrell “constantly received outstanding performance reviews,” but, despite that, she was “subjected to repeated and ongoing sexual harassment, discrimination, retaliation and a failure by the department to provide protection from such misconduct.”
The harassment stemmed, according to the complaint, from an incident in June 2021 when her husband, also an SDPD officer, had an affair with a deputy police officer within the department while Cockrell was on maternity leave with their newborn.
“Stephanie discovered that her husband, also an officer, was engaged in an extramarital affair with his subordinate,” Arutunian said. “That is a direct violation of department policy, so Stephanie reported it.”
Cockrell’s report sparked an internal investigation, but “the investigation was inadequate, incomplete and rushed,” the complaint claims. It also alleges that the lieutenant to whom Cockrell reported the affair was the deputy officer’s uncle and had an obvious conflict of interest. After that, a bullying and harassment claim was filed against Cockrell by her husband and the deputy officer, which prompted another internal investigation. This time, then-chief of police David Nisleit recommended that Cockrell be terminated. However, Scott Wahl, who is now the San Diego chief of police, overturned that recommendation.
“Stephanie’s reinstatement did not bring fairness or closure,” Arutunian said. “Instead she became the target of sexist and degrading rumors that she had sex with Scott Wahl, that she traded sex for leniency, even that her child was not her ex-husband’s. Those lies spread across social media unchecked and uninvestigated.”
The complaint then claims a third internal investigation was launched, this one “concerning the fabricated allegations of a sexual relationship between her and Wahl.” Artutunian reiterated at Thursday’s news conference that those claims were unsubstantiated but that they caused further distress and damage to Cockrell’s reputation.
Cockrell made an emotional statement herself on Thursday.
“I’ve fought alone,” Cockrell said. “I kept my head down, and I was hoping this would go away, and it just keeps getting worse, and it just won’t stop, and I just need it to stop.”
NBC 7 obtained court documents filed against Cockrell by her estranged husband, Tyler Cockrell, including a request for a domestic violence restraining order in September of last year. In it, Tyler alleged that, “from the beginning of our separation, I have been harassed, monitored and attacked by Stephanie.” It also claims that she bought surveillance equipment, including cameras, that she hid inside of his home.
Tyler sent an additional statement to NBC 7 in response to Stephanie’s news conference that said, in part, “I believe Stephanie did commit numerous crimes, used contacts and resources to facilitate the actions, attempted to cover them up, and then was untruthful about it once caught. My opinions are only that: my interpretation. However, I do have, and have submitted, substantial testimonial and physical evidence to support any claims I have made and those stand on their own merits.”
In 2016, Stephanie was involved in an additional lawsuit filed against her by Giocanda Hychko, who was a police officer in the city of Riverside. The suit claimed Hychko’s then-husband, former San Diego police officer Kevin Hychko, was romantically involved with a fellow SDPD officer, Stephanie Audette. Audette is Cockrell’s maiden name.
At the time, Verizon Communications and a current Verizon employee were also sued, described as having hacked into Hychko’s phone to unblock Audette’s number. The lawsuit claimed that an SDPD disciplinary hearing into the affair was held, in which Audette, now Cockrell, confessed under oath to the alleged misconduct.
When asked about these previous cases on Thursday, Arutunian refused to comment on anything other than the presumably soon-to-be-filed lawsuit against SDPD.
“Stephanie was never indicted for anything, criminally prosecuted for anything — none of that was proven,” Arutunian said. “As of now, her husband wasn’t even able to get a restraining order.”
“Becoming a police officer is the only thing I wanted to do,” Stephanie Cockrell added. “I met my husband and we fell in love. I discovered the affair, and I tried to save my marriage. I wasn’t some crazy woman.”
A communications manager for the San Diego Police Department confirmed Cockrell is currently “assigned to the neighborhood policing division in an administrative capacity.” Asked twice for a response to the pending lawsuit, the department did not respond.