LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A former employee of Louisville's FBI office has filed a lawsuit claiming she was sexually harassed and retaliated against, and is fighting to get her job back.

Dal Rae Beach's lawsuit alleges she often had to deal with unwanted hugs from behind closed doors and inappropriate comments from the assistant special agent in charge, Quincy Barnett.

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FBI agent Quincy Barnett speaks with WDRB.

"His comment on the phone to me was 'Are the girls out?' It was one of those moments where I can't believe is coming from my boss," said Beach. "I said 'What?' He said 'Are the girls out? If so, I might have to come in and see them.'"

Beach, a special agent who was hired by the FBI in January 2011, told WDRB she actually recruited Barnett and brought him to Louisville. But, she said, it wasn't long until the harassment from him began. She said unwanted phone calls and harassment from Barnett ultimately led to arguments and physical abuse from her now ex-boyfriend. 

The situation was reported to police, and an investigation was opened. Beach said she couldn't remember specific details about the abuse, and that the FBI then used that to let her go in February 2024, despite numerous awards, commendations and promotions she received throughout her career.

"They had approximately 13 photos that, when they showed (them) to me and I couldn't remember how I got the bruises, and what had transpired, they had told me 'This is why nobody believes you, this is why you can't work here,'" Beach said.

The lawsuit, filed in Jefferson Circuit Court on Oct. 9 against Barnett and the FBI, outlines a conversation Beach had with the FBI's Deputy Director Paul Abbate about a promotion to the CIA. The lawsuit states Beach and Abbate had a sit-down meeting in 2019 in which he offered to assist her in getting promoted and said he would make calls on her behalf. Although she accepted, the lawsuit said she "secured the promotion without anyone's assistance." 

She was deployed out to the "field" so she could promote up through the FBI, and later had a conference with top executives and leaderships from the FBI and the CIA, which the suit claims was "unprecedented" at the time. She helped organize the conference as part of her senior liaison position with the CIA. When she was asked if she wanted to stay on permanently with the CIA, Beach went to Abbate, who said the FBI couldn't lose her to the CIA and asked how he could promote her with the FBI. With that promise, she rejected the CIA's offer and looked for assignment to the Louisville Field Office, which she received in January 2020.

When she started in Louisville, the lawsuit states Beach "immediately noticed" a lack of diversity in the office's management. When she was approached by the special agent in charge about a recommendation for the vacant assistant special agent in charge position, she recommended Barnett, who was working for the FBI in Oklahoma, and was an active participant in his recruitment. He was ultimately hired for the position in January 2021. 

"Immediately upon his assignment to the FBI Louisville, Defendant Barnett embarked upon an unrelenting sexual harassment course of conduct against the Plaintiff (Beach)," the lawsuit states. That included forced and unwanted hugs, Barnett referring to Beach as "baby girl" and calling her at home during off-duty hours "suggesting sexual activity with other married men" employed by the FBI after telling her, in his office, that she was "'wound too tight and needed to get laid in order to lower her work standards.'"

The lawsuit claims some of the harassment happened while other FBI employees were around. Beach reported his conduct to the FBI, which conducted an investigation that "exonerated" Barnett. Beach claims in the lawsuit that the investigator didn't even discuss Barnett's actions that had been seen firsthand by other employees. 

The filing also accuses Barnett and the FBI of embarking on a "campaign of retaliation" against her, alleging "that she was 'untruthful' about a domestic relations proceeding" in which Beach said she was physically abused by a person she had a relationship with," and accused of her of being "untruthful" in her responses during the investigation. Beach claims that determination led to her termination. 

Beach said sexual harassment at the FBI is not just a Louisville issue, and a quick Google search will support her claim. Despite it all, Beach is suing in the hopes of getting her job back, and believes she can make change.

When asked about the allegations, a spokesperson for FBI Louisville said the office doesn't comment on pending litigation. 

The lawsuit seeks compensatory damages, coverage of attorney's fees, to be reinstated into her former position with the FBI, and a jury trial.

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