An admin is not a forum moderator, they are the leader of the moderator team (or at least co-leader), and if he's 'only' a moderator, then that same team is chosing not to get rid of them since they're such an inconsequential cog in the machine. Neither of those looks makes it acceptable, stop trying to handwave that shit.
It's like saying "No it's ok, the President is fine, it's only the Vice President that is a piece of shit, the President just hasn't done anything about it" - ok?
If one of the Era moderators did that shit, do you think we as a community or especially the people at the top would be ok with it and go 'whoa whoa, it's just a mod' ? They'd ban the fucker immediately, and make a well thought out post about why they did it and why they were a shitty person. Silence is deafening in this case.