Former city of Rocky Mount employee accuses assistant city manager of sexual harassment and retaliation

Jacqueline Barnes said Daniels told her that he could rape her during a conversation in her office in 2019 when she was working under him in the Rocky Mount parks department.

“I didn’t have anyone to protect me,” Barnes said. “And there was no one that believed my story.”

In February 2019, Jacqueline Barnes was working as a manager in the Rocky Mount parks department when Daniels was introduced as the department’s new director.

Barnes told WRAL News that she reached out to welcome Daniels to the city, and within his first two days on the job, he came to her satellite office to introduce himself.

Right away, Barnes said Daniels made it clear that he was interested in her.

“As far as making comments about, you know, ‘Do you work out?’ You drink water? ‘I can tell. I need you up here with me,’” Barnes said.

Barnes said she turned down Daniels’ advances by telling him she was married, and he replied that he was married too, but that it didn’t matter.

A few days later, Barnes said Daniels came back to her office, and his behavior escalated while the two were alone.

“He asked me if there were any cameras there, inside or out, I said no,” Barnes said. “And he said so if I sexually assaulted you, it would be your word against mine.”

Barnes said she was shocked by the question, and she began to cry, to which Daniels responded by telling her to stand up and give him a hug.

“He asked for a hug, and he said, ‘Not a church hug,” Barnes said. “I want to feel it all.”

Barnes told WRAL News that she stood up and tried to hug Daniels from the side, but he turned her to make full frontal contact.

“I felt degraded, I felt to blame, I felt all sorts of emotions,” Barnes said.

That week, Barnes said she told three of her coworkers about the incident, as well as Natasha Hampton, Rocky Mount’s assistant city manager at the time.

On March 6, 2019, Barnes filed a complaint with the city’s human resources department about Daniels’ behavior.

Hampton said she encouraged her then-boss, city manager Rochelle Small-Toney, to bring on an external investigator to look into the claims.

“Because I didn’t feel that the current HR staff, the director, was equipped to investigate such an allegation,” Hampton said.

Instead, the city manager moved forward with the investigation internally.

Documents showed Daniels’ response to the allegations, saying Barnes started to cry as she told him about unfair treatment of some city employees.

Daniels’ statement said he offered Barnes a hug to comfort her, and that he didn’t feel he had been intimidating.

The documents said that Daniels admitted in hindsight that he probably should not have hugged Barnes.

On April 9, 2019, the human resource directors issued their findings. The conclusion of the investigation said that in their view, Barnes’ complaint didn’t qualify to be a claim of sexual harassment, and human resources found no evidence that Daniels had sexually harassed her.

The report also said the investigators found, “inappropriate behavior in the hugging that both agree happened.”

“I was actually blamed for the situation that occurred,” Barnes said. “I was even asked at one point what I wore that day.”

“So it just all ended up being that I was partly to blame,” she continued.

The Rocky Mount human resources managers recommended that Daniels shouldn’t face any discipline for the complaint, but that he should be coached on his professionalism when interacting with staff.

Seven months later, in November 2019, Daniels was promoted from parks director to assistant city manager.

“He went from director, to now, assistant city manager, so he gets this promotion and now he’s my boss’s boss,” Barnes said.

Barnes told WRAL that Daniels also began to retaliate against her for filing the complaint, passing her over for promotions, refusing to grant requests for expenses needed to run the department and keeping her listed as an interim manager instead of permanent for three years.

“It would give me such anxiety to go to City Hall because I didn’t know where he was in the building,” Barnes said.

Barnes said the fear became so powerful, she started having panic attacks, and eventually it became too much to bear.

On June 11, 2020, Jacqueline Barnes retired early from the City of Rocky Mount after more than 20 years.

“It was not an easy decision, but it was beginning to affect me too greatly to stay,” Barnes said.

WRAL News requested an on-camera interview with both Elton Daniels and Rochelle Small-Toney to discuss Barnes’ allegations, but the city declined.

“These allegations and questions are part of a pending Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claim,” the city of Rocky Mount responded in a statement. “Accordingly, the city will provide no information or comment regarding employee personnel files, which are confidential by law.”

Barnes told WRAL she filed that EEOC complaint against Daniels and the city.

She’s hoping to change what she’s calling a culture of fear and injustice in the Rocky Mount city government.

“I’m no longer there, but there are a lot of people who feel they’re in a no-win situation,” Barnes said. “So why even try, or why even report?”