NLR woman sues man guilty of assaulting her

A 35-year-old North Little Rock woman is suing the 78-year-old Maumelle man she used to call “Uncle Mike” for sexually assaulting her nine months after he pleaded guilty to the attack.

The defendant, Isaiah B. Anthony Jr., pleaded guilty in July in Pulaski County Circuit Court to second-degree sexual assault, a Class B felony charge that involves sexual touching and carries a 20-year maximum prison sentence, in exchange for prosecutors reducing the charge from rape, a Class Y felony, that brings a life sentence. Anthony’s plea agreement requires him to register as a sex offender and to serve five years on probation.

In her 13-page negligence and outrage lawsuit, the woman states that Anthony’s May 2021 attack has inflicted “severe emotional distress, including, but not limited to, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, hypervigilance, suicidal ideation, sleep deprivation, and visual and auditory hallucinations.”

Anthony had been a trusted family friend whom she’d known since childhood, according to the complaint filed by attorney Tim Reed of Little Rock. She’s asking Pulaski County Circuit Judge Mackie Pierce to convene a jury trial to decide compensatory and punitive damages.

According to the suit, she had just broken up with her boyfriend, and had no place to live, and was in a “vulnerable emotional state” when Anthony invited her to stay at his home, 168 Deauville Drive.

She said he drugged her to attack her, describing how she had fallen asleep then was awakened by Anthony groping her under her shorts. Anthony further told her he had performed other sexual acts on her over the course of several hours while she was unconscious and “incapable of consent because she was physically helpless [and] mentally incapacitated.”

Court records show the woman went to Maumelle police on May 1, 2021, to report Anthony’s attack, describing how Anthony had taken her in a couple of days earlier on April 29, 2021.

She said Anthony had made sexual comments toward her, such as indicating that he expected sex in exchange for letting her stay with him. She said she was bewildered by Anthony’s sexual interest and clearly told him she would never consent, the woman told police. She said she thought Anthony understood what she was saying.

She said, when she woke up on April 30, Anthony told her he had performed oral sex on her while she slept and described other sex acts. She said she had taken her prescription medication, Klonopin, that night and did not recall anything.

She said she did not take any medication the night of April 30 because she was afraid of what Anthony might do, but she fell asleep and believed she might have been dosed. She said she woke up on May 1 to find Anthony’s hand down her pants, stating she fled the home to go to police. Anthony declined to speak to police. He was arrested about a year later.