"Nobody wants to help me"

"Nobody wants to help me"

By Mike Crispino

PASCO - They're a frustrated flock of Eagles disturbed no one's done anything to get to the bottom of claims of sexual assault and harassment.


Linda Foster claims she tried to talk to anyone in a position to help her, "and nobody wants to help me. They just act like it doesn't matter to them."


Foster says she was sexually assaulted, harassed, and in the end ignored at Aerie 2241: the Pasco Eagles.


Jim Harris, a member and former secretary, told Action News he has no reason to doubt Linda and he's coming forward with her to get answers.


"When this first happened I went to the president and the manager of the eagles and explained to them what happened," Linda said.


She claims she told her Aerie president that she was repeatedly harassed by another member and claimed that man grabbed her breasts, groped her pelvic area, and taunted her.


Linda says she was too afraid to do anything at first but claims when the harassment didn't stop she filed a formal complaint with the Pasco lodge.


That form is supposed to trigger the Aerie's trial committee to hold court and resolve the complaint.


But that never happened.


Aerie 2241 had a lot of other problems so the Grand Aerie suspended the charter and sent in an agent.


That agent, Tom Faust, had the option to fix the place, or shut it down.


He told Action News he wasn't brought in because of Linda Foster's complaint, but the first thing he did at the Pasco Lodge was dump the trail committee and board.


That meant the man Linda accused of assault lost his position of power like everyone else.


But he was still a member, never went to trial, and no one can tell us why.


Tom Faust spent months in Pasco, but never resolved the complaint.


"If he would've cared about myself as a member of the Eagles and what I represent as an eagle, I think he should've done something. He should've done 100 percent of what he could've to help me," Linda told us.


But Tom Faust told us he couldn't help, his hands were tied since Linda filed criminal charges and got an order of protection.


Jim Harris claims, "He was lying."


Action news wanted to know why an agent of the Grand Aerie couldn't resolve this complaint.


When we contacted the Grand Aerie and spoke to Kim Miller, the Public Relations and Marketing manager, we were told the organization had no record of any complaint made by Linda Foster.


In the Fraternal Order of Eagles eyes, no complaint meant, the case didn't exist.


"That's why it's so frustrating," Linda says.


Jim Harris claims he also provided paperwork to plenty of people including the complaint form, letters detailing the complaint, and copies of the order of protection.


But, again, the Grand Aerie claims none of that exists.


Linda says Kim Miller, "... told me that they had no knowledge of what went on and I explained to her yes you did because I sent the papers up to the state and we started to go through the trial."


After our calls and emails, Linda got a letter from the Grand Aerie asking her to work with them to file the complaint again.


"If they will stand by me and see if this problem will be corrected, yes I will fill it out."


But months later, Linda's not sure it'll help.


She hired a lawyer to sue the club for not taking her complaint seriously.


The Grand Aerie says it has a zero tolerance policy for any type of harassment.
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