Protesters march outside Wayne County Sheriff's Office regarding past sexual harassment claims

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Allegations are being made about interim Wayne County Sheriff Raphael Washington as a group claims he has been accused of sexual harassment at work.

Concerned Citizens of Wayne County protested Thursday outside the headquarters of the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office.

"Sexual harassment by your officials, your supervisors, all those sorts of things, no matter what department you have, is wrong, that’s why we’re here," Denesha Hill said. "If we have someone who won’t be transparent with us why do we have them as our elected official."

In 2017 before becoming sheriff, Washington and another employee at the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office was named in a lawsuit filed by two female deputies over claims of sexual harassment.

According to court documents, Wayne County and the two deputies agreed to have the case dismissed. Wayne County also admitted no liability, but paid $85,000 to end the lawsuit.

"Eighty-five thousand dollars wasn’t paid off for no reason at all," Hill said. "When you have a certain amount of power, you can make anything away."

Fox 2 reached out to Sheriff Washington for an interview but instead his campaign sent a statement that reads:

"The Retain Raphael Washington for Wayne County Sheriff Campaign does not respond to rumor and innuendo tossed about in a heated campaign season - particularly after they have been investigated by impartial parties as far back as nearly two decades ago, concluding there was never any cause for any actions to be taken."

Some critics question if this is a smear job during an election season

"He’s running for an office so of course this is politically motivated," Hill said. "But if we don’t say anything now, what do we expect to be different at the polls."