The Mets’ sexual harassment problems seem to be getting worse.
Athletic reported on Wednesday that three women who worked or worked for the Mets reported disturbing exchanges with each other and hit performance coordinator Ryan Ellis in the summer of 2018 to Aubrey Wechsler, then the team’s employee relations manager.
An employee told Weschler that Ellis told him, “I stare at my ass all the time. If I could have 15 minutes alone with you. ”
Ellis remained employed at the Mets until he was released following the dismissal of GM Jared Porter in January, after Porter admitted to sending inappropriate texts to a reporter while working for the Cubs.
“On January 19 this year, following the resignation of Jared Porter, we received new information about the conduct of the disciplined employee in the period 2017-2018,” the Mets said in a statement to The Athletic.
“We immediately began a new investigation and terminated the employee on January 22 for violating company policy and violating Mets standards for professionalism and personal conduct.”
It is unclear what new information arrived in January or why the team decided not to act more severely on previous allegations. The initial investigation into Ellis took place at about the same time as the Mets analyzed a previous indictment against Mickey Callaway, then the Mets manager.
The seriousness of the accusations against Callaway – now the pitching coach Angels – was recently revealed in a separate report by The Athletic. Callaway is currently suspended as MLB and Angels continue to investigate.
Ellis spent most of his term with the Mets, which began in 2006 at the minor league level. He was promoted to the staff of the major league last season, when he hit coach Chili Davis and gave up his preoccupations with COVID-19.
The first plaintiff, who kept a diary in which she documented the allegations, said Weschler – who still works for the team – told her she needed more evidence to support her allegations. She contacted the other two women she knew who had previously had problems with Ellis.
One woman, who had a brief sexual relationship with Ellis, said she continued to send him unwanted messages after their relationship ended. The third accuser said that Ellis would make sexually suggestive comments for her and other employees and would call her late at night and ask if her boyfriend was home.
According to the first accuser, the Mets contacted two weeks later and said the investigation had been completed.
“In July 2018, a complaint about the misconduct of a Mets employee was brought to the attention of Mets management at the time,” the team told The Athletic. “The organization initiated an investigation and, as a result, the employee was disciplined, put on probation and ordered in counseling. I had not received any previous or subsequent complaints about this employee. ”
The second accuser said she did not find out from the team until January, when the “new information” appeared.
“They were asking about the relationship. They weren’t really interested in harassment. It was about the fact that they caught him lying “, the woman declared for The Athletic.