EAST HAVEN, Conn. (AP) A lawyer says the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities has found reasonable cause to investigate a sexual harassment complaint by a former secretary against East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo.

The New Haven Register reports that John R. Williams, the attorney representing the former Town Hall secretary, said the human rights agency found that the complaint merits further investigation. The commission has ordered everyone involved to gather at a confidential, mediated meeting Jan. 22.

Frank Gentilesco Jr., a spokesman for the mayor, declined to comment to the newspaper. He referred questions to Maturo's lawyer who also would not comment.

The former secretary filed the complaint last July, accusing Maturo of exposing himself as part of a pattern of sexual harassment.

Maturo has called the accusations ``patently false.''