NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT ________________ No. 17-2751 ________________ MUSTAFA ABUOMAR, Appellant v. COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS; VINCE MOONEY; EDWARD BAUMBACH; DENNIS BRUMFIELD; THEODORE BENZA; KIPPLE, (first name unknown) ________________ On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania (D. C. Civil Action No. No. 4-14-cv-01036) District Judge: Honorable Matthew W. Brann ________________ Submitted under Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a) on March 20, 2018 Before: SMITH, Chief Judge, HARDIMAN and ROTH, Circuit Judges (Opinion filed: November 2, 2018) ________________ OPINION ________________ This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not constitute binding precedent. ROTH, Circuit Judge For nearly twenty years, Mustafa Abuomar served as the imam at State Correctional Institution Coal Township (SCI Coal Township), a correctional facility in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. He brought suit against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, the Superintendent of SCI Coal Township, and various Corrections Officers and employees at the facility, alleging that, while investigating allegations of impropriety at SCI Coal Township—allegations propounded by Abuomar himself—defendants violated his constitutional rights and inflicted other wrongs on him. In total, Abuomar asserted ten claims against defendants, including conspiracy to interfere with his civil rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1985 (Count I); a Fourth Amendment claim (Count II); a Fourteenth Amendment substantive due process claim (Count III); hostile work environment claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 19641 and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA) (Counts IV and VI);2 retaliation claims under the same statutes (Counts V and VII); and state law tort claims for battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and false imprisonment (Counts VIII, IX, and X). The District Court granted summary judgment to defendants on all ten claims. On appeal, Abuomar abandons his conspiracy claim, but he appeals the grant of summary judgment as to every other claim. For a number of the reasons underlying the District Court’s decision, we will affirm. 1 42 U.S.C. 2000e et seq. 2 43 P.S. §§ 951–963. 2 I. In January 2014, Abuomar filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleging that Corrections Officer Theodore Benza had directed ethnic and religious slurs at him. Subsequently, Abuomar brought the present suit with claims premised primarily on the events of March 5, 2014. According to the undisputed facts, in the weeks leading up to March 5, Superintendent Vince Mooney had learned of allegations—advanced by Abuomar—of hostile and violent conduct by Deputy Superintendent Michael Miller.3 Mooney instructed Abuomar’s immediate supervisors, Chaplaincy Director Aaron Duncan and Inmate Correction and Classification Manager Linda Chismar, to obtain a written statement from Abuomar that detailed his allegations against Miller.4 Duncan and Chismar approached Abuomar on March 5, 2014, and Abuomar declined to give Chismar and Duncan such a statement. In response, Chismar contacted Mooney who pressed Abuomar for a written statement. Abuomar continued to demur.5 Moments later, Major Edward Baumbach and Major Dennis Brumfield confronted Abuomar and ...
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