Deputy City Attorney accused of sexual assault

HOLLAND, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – One of the top attorneys for the City of Holland is off the job and under investigation after a woman came forward accusing the deputy city attorney of sexual assault.

The alleged victim in the case filed a personal protection order in Ottawa County Circuit Court on Friday. The judge signed it and said the deputy city attorney committed physical assault, battery, and intimidation. The victim says the sex was not consensual.

In the personal protection order, the victim describes what happened on Tuesday, November 3^rd inside Holland's district courthouse. She says Carl Gabrielse sexually assaulted her in the bathroom. The next day, she wrote in the petition that Gabrielse called and told her she didn't have to go to Alcoholics Anonymous and asked her to meet him at the courthouse.

During that meeting on Wednesday, Gabrielse said he wanted to get a hotel room on Thursday to have sex. That conversation occurred while detectives with the Ottawa County Sheriff's Department were listening in and recording.

Gabrielse worked for Cunningham Dalman, a firm that the City of Holland contracts its legal work with. The city attorney there first suspended Gabrielse, then terminated him from his city duties and as an employee of the law firm on Friday.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Holland's City Attorney said "I am shocked and disappointed that such serious allegations have been made against an attorney in whom I placed such trust. Mr. Gabrielse's conduct was indefensible, and is clearly inconsistent with the high expectations of my office and with the trust placed in me and our firm by the City of Holland."

Gabrielse does not yet face any charges in the case. The victim still has an open drunk driving case in the city, court records show the original arrest in that case happened in October. Newschannel 3 tried to get a look at that file on Monday, but were told that Ottawa County Detectives had removed it from the courthouse as evidence.