Freddie Gillespie

Des Moines police union boss retired after harassment claims

The longtime president of the Des Moines police officers' union sexually harassed women inside and outside the department but was allowed to retire without discipline or criminal charges, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday. Four female employees of the Des Moines Police Department allege in the lawsuit that they were sent unsolicited explicit photos by Des Moines Police Bargaining Unit Association President Stew Barnes in 2019 and 2020, including many of himself naked. The department let Barnes, 61, retire in August 2020 with full benefits despite “overwhelming evidence” of his harassment of co-workers and employees of a tanning salon and a credit union, the lawsuit claims.