Police Chief Timothy Lee and his wife, Laura, are seeking $4 million dollars in damages in a lawsuit against the Town of Dartmouth and town officials.

The lawsuit was filed this month in the U.S. District Court in Boston. The 66-page filing names the Town of Dartmouth, the Dartmouth Select Board, Town Administrator David Cressman both in his professional capacity and individually, Select Board member Shawn McDonald both in his professional capacity and individually, and former Dartmouth police officer Frank Condez in his professional capacity and individually as defendants.

Lee has been on medical leave since March 6, 2015 for job-related stress resulting in anxiety and migraines, according to the suit. He remains the police chief until his contract ends on June 30, 2016. The filing says “Chief Lee properly and duly performed all duties and obligations as Chief of the Town” before going on medical leave.

The job stress results from a number of back-and-forth actions between Lee, Cressman, Condez, and McDonald, according to court documents. It started in fall 2010, when Lee had Condez--who ran a small computer repair business on the side--assist IT director Antone Souza in upgrading the police department’s computer system, both hardware and software components, the filing says.

Lee also contracted with Condez to try to save files that might still be intact on his wife’s computer after she had accidentally knocked it over, according to the filing.

Around March 2013, Dartmouth Police Department computers began experiencing functional issues, including activation issues, file losses, and networking problems, and Souza determined that inauthentic Microsoft Windows operating keys were the reason behind it, according to the filing. Fearing violations of state and federal piracy laws, Lee reached out to the FBI’s Lakeville Office to request an investigation, which began on March 19, 2013.

In September, Condez found out about the piracy investigation, and allegedly told Deputy Robert Szala that “he was going to ruin Chief Lee.” Condez was put on paid administrative leave on October 1, 2013, after publicly accusing Lee of stealing his firearm, which began another investigation, according to the filing. Disciplinary hearings on misconduct charges against Condez began April 17, 2014, and were to be continued on June 17, 2014.

According to the filing, on June 6, 2014, Condez delivered a letter to the Select Board, care of Cressman, with two nude photos of Lee’s son as a toddler enclosed. “Given the serious nature of the issues here I don’t have to go into great detail as to the consequence for the Town should other victims be discovered given that the Town now has knowledge of the situation,” the letter read, according to the lawsuit.

The filing says Condez also contacted the Department of Children and Families, but following investigation, DCF “dismissed it as completely unfounded.”

When Cressman confronted Lee about the photos with human resources director Melissa Medeiros, Lee demanded the town conduct an immediate investigation. The lawsuit alleges that Cressman refused to do so. Lee then contacted members of the Select Board, and Cressman expressed anger with the chief for “going over his head,” according to the lawsuit.

The investigation caused the Lee family “significant stress, emotional distress, personal angst and family turmoil,” according to the lawsuit, which also says the Lees “were subjected to perpetual stress and fear.”

The Lees were later cleared of any wrongdoing by the District Attorney’s office and the town, according to the lawsuit.

Condez also alleged that Lee had stolen his firearm and sexually harassed him, and all claims “are false, frivolous, intentional, malicious, and were made in bad faith,” the court documents say.

Lee had reported to Cressman and Select Board members that the stress from the aforementioned instances was taking a negative toll on his physical and mental health, says the filing.

Condez’s hearing did not occur on June 17, 2014. Instead, the town conducted its own disciplinary proceedings that Condez would have to appeal, according to the lawsuit. The filing says the town called the Lees as witnesses to testify, but the family was “subjected to intense direct and cross examination related to the allegations of child abuse and exploitation” subjecting them to the stress and severe anxiety.

Commissioner Paul Stein, who conducted the evidentiary hearings on Condez between November 2014 and February 2015, later concluded that Condez should be terminated from the Dartmouth Police Department, due to “serious lapses of judgement and untruthfulness” and “irreparable damage to his credibility and to the reputation of his fellow officers," according to the lawsuit.

During the hearings against Condez, an opportunity arose to promote either Sergeant Paul Medeiros or Condez to lieutenant. The filing says Lee asked the Select Board not to promote either until the Condez case was finished. McDonald publicly endorsed Medeiros, and then “expressed disdain for Chief Lee due to Chief Lee’s decision not to support McDonald’s efforts,” the lawsuit says.

The filing mentions several doctors who suggested Lee take a leave of absence due to the “disruption, stress, emotional distress, angst, and turmoil” put upon the family’s marital, parental, and individual obligations.

Lee sought paid medical leave from the town in early 2015 due to “stress, anxiety, headaches, depression, and hypertension.” The Select Board engaged an independent medical examiner--Dr. Michael Rater--to perform a psychiatric evaluation on Lee along with a medical record review, according to the filing. The Superior Court decided that Rater could not assure the town that Lee was capable of responding to an emergency situation in a clear-headed fashion, according to the filing.

The lawsuit alleges Cressman and the Select Board denied Lee his benefits without reason. Lee ultimately filed a lawsuit against the town in Bristol County Superior Court and was successful, although the filing says the town has only provided some benefits, causing Lee additional stress and an inability to provide for his family.

According to the filing, the town’s denial of Lee’s pay and benefits as defined in his contract has been “the result of intentional, deliberate, malicious, and bad faith conduct by Cressman and McDonald” and that “both Cressman and McDonald have repeatedly expressed personal animosity, disdain and contempt for Chief Lee.”

Cressman deferred comment to attorney Christopher Petrini of Petrini and Associates PC in Framingham. Neither Petrini nor Lee’s lawyer, Eric Brainsky of Brainsky Levinson LLC in Fall River, could be reached for comment.

Dartmouth Week will update this story as information becomes available.