Sheriff’s wife lawsuit latest in years-long spat with other Brown County officials
As dispute continues, MJ Lunzman claims harassment, retaliation, age discrimination
The wife of an embattled South Dakota sheriff is suing county officials with oversight over her husband’s job duties for harassment and discrimination.
A lawsuit has been filed in federal court by Mary Jane “MJ” Lunzman — wife of Sheriff Dave Lunzman — against the Brown County Commission, the county’s state’s attorney and the head of Brown County’s human resources division, accused of failing to address workplace misconduct reported to them by the plaintiff, according to the filing.
MJ names commissioners Duane Sutton, Mike Gage, Drew Dennert, Mike Wiese, Doug Fjeldheim; Brown County State’s Attorney Karly Winter; and Brown County Human Resources Director Allison Tunheim as defendants in the lawsuit.
In the complaint, she contends that county officials discriminated and retaliated against her after she reported she was being harassed to jail administrator Sam Mounga and jail nurse Monica Hein. Winter and Tunheim then passed those reports on to the county commission without “receiving both sides of the issues,” MJ claims.
That, she argues, led to retaliatory actions that included banning her from volunteering or working for the Brown County Sheriff’s Office and preventing her from administering blood draws at the jail, causing her “undue stress.”
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