Troubled Waters At the Salon Spa

Barrett's lawsuit makes a similar allegation, that Chreky used his position "to attempt to coerce and intimidate attractive, vulnerable immigrant female employees like Ms. Barrett, to perform sexual acts."

Thong is a native of Cambodia and resigned from the salon last year. Barrett, a native of Brazil, was fired in the same year. Both are U.S. citizens and have lived here for years.

Chreky and his attorney, David J. Sullivan, declined to be interviewed for this report. The lawsuit is still in the discovery stage and affidavits from witnesses have been shared by both sides. Sullivan issued a brief written response to the suits through a public relations firm that firmly denied the allegations. They have also sent the plaintiffs statements from 14 current employees who say they have never seen Chreky act inappropriately.

"Based on what I saw at work and heard from Jennifer Thong directly, I think Jennifer was pursuing Andre Chreky and became disappointed when her pursuit was unsuccessful," says Edil Karkas, a Chreky employee, in his statement.

In court filings, Chreky says the sexually explicit events never happened. The dispute with Thong started, he says, when he sued her last year after she left the salon. That suit unsuccessfully attempted to enforce a no-compete clause in her contract that would have barred her from opening her new salon for six months. Chreky says Thong's sexual harassment claims are in retaliation for that suit.

"Plaintiff Thong attempted to blackmail [Chreky] . . . by threatening to claim she was sexually harassed," says Chreky's response to the lawsuit. "Plaintiff Thong intentionally took confidential information from the salon, including information identifying prominent customers of the salon . . . this . . . constituted violations of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, breach of her fiduciary duty to her employer, conversion and theft."

Chreky's response to Barrett's claims of repeated sexual harassment is simple: "Defendants deny the allegations."

Robin Pence, a customer for nearly 20 years, calls the allegations "ridiculous" and "disgusting."

"Andre is a man of great integrity, very kind, and the word 'gentle' is weird, but that's what I think of with him," Pence said in a telephone interview. "I just think [the suits are] utter nonsense, someone seeking to gain at someone else's expense."

"The court process is continuing," Sullivan says in his written statement. "We will put people under oath, confront them with hard evidence, and let a jury decide who's telling the truth. Andre has enormous faith in the process."

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The Chreky salon is in a narrow rowhouse tucked between a Starbucks and a Burger King at one of Washington's busiest downtown intersections. It's a beautifully lighted salon, with two floors for hair stylings (starting at $50 for a basic trim, going up to $1,400 for hair extensions) and hair colorings, massages, pedicures and manicures. The prices of Chreky's personal hair services are not listed on the Web site.