Iowa county seeks removal of prosecutor for sexual harassment

The Van Buren County Board of Supervisors is seeking to remove the county's chief prosecutor from office, claiming he sexually harassed female employees and appeared drunk during a trial.

A petition filed Thursday afternoon alleges a pattern of sexual harassment by County Attorney Abraham Watkins, who was elected to serve a four-year term in 2014. The petition seeks to invoke an Iowa law that allows judges to remove elected officials from office for misconduct.

Among other complaints, the petition accuses Watkins of commenting about a female county employee's breasts, questioning an employee's sexual health and "appearing at work in the presence of female county employees wearing nothing below the waist except a pair of underwear." Watkins also showed a female county employee pictures of a nude woman and made sexual comments in the workplace, according to the petition.

Watkins was not available to speak Thursday with a reporter, according a woman who answered the telephone at his law office. He has been licensed to practice law in Iowa since May 2013, and has received no professional disciplinary orders from the Iowa Supreme Court, records show.

Watkins operates a general practice law firm in Keosauqua in addition to his duties as county attorney, which is a fairly common practice in rural Iowa communities.

Des Moines attorney F. Montgomery Brown filed the petition in Van Buren County District Court on behalf of the supervisors.

The petition also accuses Watkins of appearing in a trial in his elected role while under the influence of alcohol, though it does not specify the case or offer further details. Drinking on the job is specifically barred by the Van Buren County employee manual, according to the petition.

Additionally, the prosecutor "accepted private employment in connection with a matter sufficiently or substantially related to a criminal prosecution previously prosecuted by the office of the Van Buren County Attorney," according to the petition. Such behavior violates both Iowa law and the state's rules of professional conduct for attorneys.

Both the county supervisors and Watkins will have a chance to present evidence and make arguments at a hearing in front of a district court judge. A judge could make a decision to remove Watkins from office following the hearing. The county attorney has the option of resigning from the position.

Van Buren County sits in the southeast corner of the state and has a population of around 7,500 residents.

Watkins is not the first Iowa elected official to be accused of sexual harassment this year. In March, longtime Decatur County Sheriff Bert Muir resigned after county supervisors sought his removal amid allegations of rampant sexual harassment in his office.