Alderman, Devorsetz & Hora is pleased to announce a jury verdict in favor of their client, U.S. Capitol Police Officer Mauricia (Missy) VanMeter, which was issued on November 7, 2025. Les Alderman was lead counsel, in a case in which he teamed up with veteran civil rights litigator Tom Gagliardo and rising star paralegal Kate Wehba, both of The Gilbert Employment Law Firm. After eleven days of trial and more than three days of deliberations, the jury returned a verdict of $850,000 for Officer VanMeter. The trial judge, U.S. District Court Judge, Jia Cobb, will decide economic damages in future proceedings.

Officer VanMeter filed suit nearly eight years ago, after being removed from the prestigious K9 training course in October 2017. VanMeter was in a class of six K-9 Technician candidates, going through what was supposed to be a 14-week program, in which all of the other candidates and all of the training staff were men. The trial effort benefitted from the hours of training videos that were available as evidence, and which clearly demonstrated Officer VanMeter’s hard work, and her careful and thorough approach to training.

Trial testimony from USCP’s training staff established that there was a six to seven week period in which the trainers expected candidates to make frequent mistakes and in which VanMeter’s performance was consistent with her male counterparts. Nevertheless Sgt. Tony Phelps – who was in charge of K9 Training at the time, threatened Officer VanMeter with removal in the second week of training.

The trainers paired Officer VanMeter with a K9 about which they had doubts because of the dog’s early struggles. Shortly thereafter, during a week in which two of the men struggled mightily, Phelps told his supervisor, Lt. Stewart Cromwell, that he was considering removing VanMeter, with no mention of the poor performance by the men. One trainer admitted that daily training records for Officer VanMeter were written such that it made her performance seem worse than what it was, while the men’s records omitted their numerous mistakes.

Evidence at trial demonstrated that the male handlers were given assistance that was withheld from VanMeter throughout the training and that VanMeter was even sabotaged during some exercises. Two of the men who struggled in Plaintiff’s training group were ultimately transferred to a different side of the program, where they were teamed with dogs that were considered more independent and did not require as much guidance from the handlers. Sgt. Phelps was transferred out of the K9 program shortly after the close of Officer VanMeter’s class.

In one of the more dramatic moments of trial, lead trainer Charles (Kenny) Hill admitted to giving a male handler unlawful assistance during a certification examination, passing him even though he should have been disqualified due to the numerous mistakes made during the examination, and falsifying records to make it appear that he had passed. Mr. Hill also agreed that portions of the certification examination were modified for at least one other male handler in his class, after his dog became confused and could not identify trained odors. Later in the trial, Mr. Hill attempted to retract his admissions, claiming that he had been “frustrated.”

Mr. Alderman credits Officer VanMeter’s patience, and resilience for carrying the case all the way to a verdict in her favor. Mr. Alderman also thanks Mr. Gagliardo whose strategic contributions, steady presence and insights were crucial for the win, and he credits Ms. Wehba, whose acumen rivals that of seasoned veterans (and bodes well for an amazing career as a litigator), for her mind-reading abilities while deftly coordinating and presenting trial exhibits.