HARTFORD — The disgraced former police lieutenant who lost his law enforcement certification after being credibly accused of sexual harassment received a promotion during the same time period as his professional misconduct.
Karl Ebbighausen retired in March, after decades in Upper Valley law enforcement, shortly after the departure of former Hartford Police Chief Greg Sheldon, who retired in February.
It was Sheldon who promoted Ebbighausen to lieutenant in November 2023, according to Ebbighausen’s LinkedIn profile. Around the same time, Ebbighausen became commander of the newly created community outreach division, the Valley News reported.
Both retirements came just a few months before the sexual harassment complaints against Ebbighausen were submitted to the Vermont Criminal Justice Council.
Last month, the council announced it had revoked Ebbighausen’s certification and released a stipulation agreement that stated he “sexually harassed a number of persons who worked closely with the Hartford Police Department,” according to the agreement posted on the Council’s website. As part of the agreement, both parties were required to acknowledge that the state could prove Ebbighausen engaged in “gross professional misconduct,” as per Vermont’s public safety law.
Efforts to reach Ebbighausen, who had worked in Hartford since 1998, have been unsuccessful.
While town officials remain mum on details of the sexual harassment allegations against him, it is clear the conduct came during a period of flux and leadership turnover within the department.
Between July 2022 and March 2025, the period the state says Ebbighausen engaged in sexual harassment, the department had two leaders: Constance Kelly, the current police chief, was acting chief from May 2022 to February 2023, and Sheldon, who became chief in February 2023.
Sheldon created the community outreach division, which deals largely with drug abuse, homelessness and mental illness. He had overseen a similar outreach division in Rutland before coming to Hartford.
It required a reorganization of Hartford’s police department, adding a third division, in addition to patrol and investigations, said Hartford Town Manager John Haverstock, who began his position in October 2023 after serving as town manager for 14 years in Pittsford, Vt.
The commander of the outreach division oversees a data analyst from the police department and outside “liaisons” from Clara Martin Center and Health Care and Rehabilitation Services, according to William Furnari, who has been commander of the outreach division since last month.
While Furnari said he has worked with Ebbighausen in the past, he declined to answer specific questions about his former colleague.
Police officers and these nonprofit service providers “work closely together,” Haverstock said.
Neither HCRS nor the Clara Martin Center responded to questions about Ebbighausen by deadline.
Sheldon retired in February, after two years as Hartford’s chief. Kelly, who took office March 1, succeeded him, now in a permanent chief role.
Sheldon has since moved to Summerfield, Fla., according to his Facebook, which was made private after an attempt to contact him there. Efforts to reach Sheldon by phone were similarly unsuccessful.
On March 26, Ebbighausen retired, Haverstock said.
Haverstock declined to respond to questions about Ebbighausen’s conduct, which he said was a “personnel issue.”
Around June 5, a complaint against Ebbighausen was delivered to the Vermont Criminal Justice Council, according to the stipulation agreement. The source of the complaint is classified as part of the agreement, said Christopher Brickell, the executive director of the council, which handles police officer certification in the state.
In Hartford, harassment complaints are discussed by the department head, the human resources director and the town manager, who then develop a plan going forward, Haverstock said.
Chief Kelly also declined to answer questions directly related to Ebbighausen, but said that the department’s sexual harassment policy will be reevaluated as part of the usual course of operations.
“We’re reviewing all of our policies as is typical of a new chief coming into a department,” she said.
She said she aims for an “open workplace” in which everyone would feel welcome reporting “if there’s something they’re not comfortable with,” Kelly said.
The town currently defines sexual harassment as “a form of sex discrimination and means unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature,” according to its personnel policy guidebook.
If the town receives a complaint of sexual harassment, or otherwise has reason to believe that harassment is occurring, the policy dictates that the town must take “all necessary steps to ensure that the matter is promptly investigated and addressed.”
“Whenever we do receive a complaint,” Haverstock said, “we review it very carefully and take steps that we feel are warranted under the circumstances.”
The town also takes preventative measures against sexual harassment.
“We do conduct periodic trainings both at the department and the staff-wide level with professionals who come in and talk to us about such matters,” Haverstock said.
Haverstock acknowledged that the town cannot prevent all sexual harassment.
“Well, we’re dealing with human beings, and we’re not all perfect, but certainly the town takes this issue very seriously,” he said.
Any employee, supervisor, or agent who has been found to have harassed another employee is subject to disciplinary action, which can range from a verbal warning to dismissal, under the town’s policy.
No one other than the accused is entitled to information concerning the disciplinary action taken, under the policy.
Kim Souza, a Hartford Selectboard member from 2018 to March 2025, said the board, which does not have direct oversight of town workers, was “isolated” from anything related to workplace harassment.
“The HR department really locked down on personnel matters,” she said on a Friday phone call. This could be “frustrating,” she said, as “anything could be going on and the board wouldn’t even know.”
Mary Erdei, the current Selectboard chairwoman, similarly was “not privy” to questions related to sexual harassment policy, she said in an email.