Lamont Jackson’s duties as a customer service associate at New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection included helping people who called to inquire about their water usage. Twice last year, officials said on Thursday, he did the opposite. Anyone who thinks they have had a bad customer service experience might want to weigh it against what Mr.
Jackson is accused of: threatening to shoot one of the callers and hurling obscenities at both. His behavior was so egregious it warranted criminal charges, officials said. “This defendant’s disturbing and harassing behavior is unacceptable under any circumstances, but particularly for a city employee charged with responding to questions from members of the public,” said Jocelyn E.
Strauber, the commissioner of the city’s Department of Investigation, in announcing Mr. Jackson’s arrest. In the first episode, according to a criminal complaint, a man called the department on July 12 to ask about a water bill and spoke with Mr.
Jackson. He told the man to submit the inquiry in writing, and the call ended after a few minutes, the complaint says. A minute later, according to the complaint, the man received a call from a blocked number and did not answer.
The caller — who, the complaint says, was Mr. Jackson — left a profanity-laced message in which he threatened to shoot the man. About 10 minutes later, the man received a second call from a blocked number and, again, did not answer, the complaint says.
The caller was Mr. Jackson again, according to the complaint. This time, the complaint says, he left a message in which he said, “You know I know where you live” and “Watch when I catch you.
” Two months later, on Sept. 14, a woman called to ask about her father’s water bill and spoke with Mr. Jackson, the complaint says.
Immediately after the call ended, according to the complaint, the woman got a call from a blocked number. When she picked up, Mr. Jackson addressed her with a common vulgarity before hanging up, the complaint says.
The complaint does not include details about the calls that prompted Mr. Jackson’s angry replies. Investigators traced the calls, which left the recipients fearing for their safety, to a phone associated with Mr.
Jackson and to the area of the Environmental Protection Department’s offices on Livingston Street in Brooklyn, the complaint says. A supervisor at the agency identified the voice in the messages left in July as belonging to Mr. Jackson, the complaint says.
Mr. Jackson, 50, of the Bronx, was charged with three counts of aggravated harassment, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail. When he was taken into custody, the complaint says, he had eight glassine envelopes of cocaine in a pants pocket, leading to an additional misdemeanor charge for drug possession.
He made an initial appearance in Brooklyn Criminal Court on Thursday, was released and was scheduled to return in June, according to the Department of Investigation and the Brooklyn district attorney’s office. A lawyer representing Mr. Jackson did not respond to a call seeking comment.
Mr. Jackson joined the Environmental Protection Department in December 2017 and was still employed by the agency as of Thursday with an hourly salary totaling about $35,000 a year, a Department of Investigation news release said. He is no longer allowed to have telephone contact with customers, the release said.
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From: nytimes
URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/20/nyregion/nyc-worker-customer-harassment.html
