A federal judge has dismissed a discrimination lawsuit brought by a former Baltimore police officer who said she was denied a promotion in 1996 because she is a woman, not because she was under investigation for selling secret police information.
In a ruling filed yesterday, U.S. District Judge Andre M. Davis rejected the claims by Catherine D. Miele, who retired in 1999 after 16 years on the city force.
The lawsuit was the latest legal battle for Miele, who was indicted in 1997 on charges of bribery and misconduct. State prosecutors accused her of running criminal background checks on police computers and selling the information to private investigators.
A judge acquitted Miele of the charges during a 1998 trial after defense attorneys discovered technical problems with the indictment brought against her.
Davis' ruling noted that Miele acknowledged during a deposition that she gave police information to private investigators on about 25 occasions, and records from Miele's psychologist reported that she gave the investigators information nearly 200 times.
Miele denied she was paid for any of the information.