Ex-Bayonne City Hall worker calls for Davis to resign over ‘sexting’ allegations

A former Bayonne City Hall employee went public with her “sexting” allegations against Mayor Jimmy Davis, imploring him to resign at last night’s city council meeting.

“Finally, in closing, I am asking that the mayor resign from his position regarding all the sexting messages I have received from him between 2013 to 2015,” Stacie Percella, a former deputy registrar of vital statistics at City Hall who was fired in December, said yesterday.

She was also extremely critical of the fact that Davis had enlisted the help of public relations firm Vision Media to try and quell the situation.

Percella exclaimed that she “begged to differ” with Davis spokesman Amit Jani’s previous comments to Hudson County View that her allegations should not be taken seriously since they were made anonymously.

Late last month, Percella sat down with this reporter and showed hundreds of text messages between her and Davis between early 2013 and late 2014.

Some were friendly and spoke about the inner workings of City Hall, both under former Mayor Mark Smith and the current administration, while others were sexually suggestive, in some instances, clear references to oral sex.

A review of Percella’s phone showed that she rarely responded to these types of messages and maintains that she has not deleted any of her responses.

“I have all the proof and I didn’t tarnish Jimmy’s reputation, he did that himself … now with lying and telling people that his phone was stolen from someone in his administration and they were sending me the texts,” Percella continued during her speech at the podium.

“I don’t think so mayor, at 3:30 in the morning? On many different occasions, on all hours of the night and day, even when you stated you are home alone? So go get him out of his office and have him stand here face-to-face with me: I don’t have a problem [with that].”

Jani was again dismissive of Percella’s claims, despite the fact that she had now revealed her identity, calling her actions “an orchestrated campaign to make millions of dollars off of Bayonne taxpayers” through a lawsuit.

“The release of these text messages is part of an orchestrated campaign to make millions of dollars off of Bayonne taxpayers and destroy Mayor Davis’ reputation. Stacie Percella was terminated from her position with the city because of her workplace behavior, which would be unacceptable for any public employee,” he said in a statement.

“She already has an active lawsuit filed against the city and these allegations are clearly the precursor to another lawsuit against taxpayers.”

Jani also stated that Percella and Davis were friends since childhood and called the text messages “nothing but harmless, playful banter between two adults.”

Additionally, both sides agree that their relationship never became physical. Percella and Davis were both married at the time the text messaging took place.

In response, Percella pointed out that her current sexual harassment lawsuit is regarding the conduct of a former health officer during the Smith administration and was furious that Jani characterized the messages as “playful banter” when the mayor “asked for fellatio” and references other sexual acts.

Jani did not immediately respond to an email seeking further comment.