Chicago Park District pays more than $2 million to ‘sexually exploited’ lifeguard

The notoriously toxic workplace culture that once festered at Oak Street Beach led the Chicago Park District to pay more than $2 million to a female former lifeguard there — bringing the total legal tab for the sexual-misconduct scandal at the city’s public beaches and pools to more than $8.7 million.

The alleged misconduct in the case included “grooming, exploitation and sexual assault” by Park District supervisors that began when the plaintiff was still a “minor,” according to court records.

The recent settlement with the woman, who worked at the popular beach near downtown, marks the seventh legal payout to a former lifeguard since WBEZ first reported on widespread allegations of sexual abuse, assault and harassment in the Park District’s Aquatics Department five years ago.

Asked about the latest settlement with an unidentified “Jane Doe” plaintiff, a Park District spokeswoman said the agency “considers multiple factors before reaching a settlement agreement and believes the payment is fair and in the best interest of the District.”

The spokeswoman also said there were no pending court cases and no other unresolved out-of-court claims related to the scandal.

The total payout in the recently settled case was $2.15 million, according to Park District board meeting records.

The Chicago law firm of Romanucci & Blandin LLC represented the plaintiff in the case, but a spokeswoman for the firm said the terms of the agreement with the Park District prohibited lawyers from commenting.

The same firm had won the biggest of the seven settlements related to the lifeguard-abuse scandal for another client. That litigation ended two years ago with the Park District paying $4 million to a woman who alleged abuse by a lifeguard supervisor at Humboldt Park.

In the case at Oak Street Beach, Cook County Circuit Court records show the plaintiff worked there every summer from 2012 through 2018 and filed the lawsuit in October 2024 against the Park District and its former CEO Michael Kelly.

The complaint alleged that Kelly and other officials “allowed and concealed a pervasive institutional culture of sexual misconduct directed against female [Park District] lifeguards.”

The plaintiff became “a victim of [the Park District’s] indifference” — and of senior lifeguards at the iconic beach on Lake Michigan in Chicago’s Gold Coast, according to court records.

The former lifeguard alleged that the Park District’s leadership “failed to investigate reported sexual abuse at Oak Street Beach” and did not fire or otherwise discipline supervisors who committed sexual misconduct against female employees.

The case was closed in January, court records show, after the Park District’s board approved the settlement agreement with no dissenting votes. Video from the meeting shows the Park District commissioners did not discuss the matter publicly before approving the settlement.

The agreement brings the total for the seven payouts to former lifeguards to $8,727,250, according to Park District records obtained by WBEZ.

In addition to the $4 million case — believed to be the biggest payout by the Park District for any legal matter since at least 2001 — the agency agreed to settlements with two other former Aquatics Department employees in 2024. Those settlements were for $400,000 and $275,000.

The first three claims related to the scandal ended with a settlement for $575,000 in 2022 and payouts of $977,250 and $350,000 in 2023, Park District records show.

The scandal prompted the resignations of Kelly, Park District Inspector General Elaine Little, other high-ranking agency officials and Park District Board President Avis LaVelle, with then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot ordering an outside-counsel investigation into the matter.

The park district watchdog’s office opened its probe in 2020, when two young female former lifeguards sent detailed letters to Lightfoot and Kelly. But the matter remained out of public view for more than a year, until WBEZ reported on what already was a “broad investigation” in April 2021.

After the story broke, many former lifeguards came forward and said the sexual misconduct was endemic at the beaches and pools for generations, with officials accused of failing to follow through on their zero-tolerance promises.

Kelly defended his handling of the matter, but former lifeguards told WBEZ they were disappointed by the official response. City Council members raised concerns, and Lightfoot eventually forced Kelly to resign.

The outside counsel’s investigation for the Park District concluded that Kelly knew about the explosive allegations far longer than previously revealed and did nothing to investigate the complaints immediately, contrary to his public assertions.

The Park District inspector general’s office ultimately found proof to back up 29 allegations against employees in the Aquatics Department, concluding that “bullying, harassing and sexual misconduct flourished and went unchallenged.”

Officials promised reforms to avoid a repeat of the scandal, and the Park District has begun recruiting lifeguards for the 2026 season. The next swim test for prospective lifeguards is March 28 at Whitney Young High School.

The Park District is offering $20.50 an hour for lifeguarding this summer, according to a help-wanted ad.

Dan Mihalopoulos is an investigative reporter for WBEZ.