Sex assault victim sues DYFS over ex-employee
TRENTON » A sexually abused victim is suing the state’s child protection division for punitive damages, alleging she suffers from post-traumatic stress as a victim of Lamont King’s alleged misconduct.
King, 40, of Trenton, is a former employee of the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services who has since been fired on allegations he had sexual relations with two clients. He remains under active prosecution on seven criminal charges, including one count of second-degree sexual assault by coercion.
While the state gears up its criminal case, one of the victims has filed a civil-action complaint against King and his former employer. Using a fictitious name in her litigation, the plaintiff accuses King of sexual assault and DYFS of negligence in hiring, training and supervising employees.
The victim Jan. 23 filed a seven count civil complaint demanding a trial by jury in Mercer County Superior Court. The New Jersey Department of Children and Families, the Division of Child Protection and Permanency and King are all listed as defendants in the victim’s complaint, which could potentially morph into a federal lawsuit.
King worked for the Division of Youth and Family Services or DYFS, which is now known as the Division of Child Protection and Permanency or DCPP. While employed as an assistant family services state worker, King goaded two of his clients into having an improper personal relationship with him between Nov. 1, 2015, and April 30, 2016, according to allegations in the criminal indictment.
King was assigned by DYFS, now DCPP, to transport a mother to a neutral location to have supervised visits with her son, according to her civil complaint. While transporting her to the child visits and transporting her back home, King would discuss his male anatomy, she alleges in her complaint.
The civil complaint also says King on one occasion booked a motel room for one hour and transported the victim to the motel room to have nonconsensual sexual intercourse with her. That supports the state’s allegations that King took a victim to a Pennsylvania motel and had sex with her.
The victim says she “did not consent to any of King’s advances, either verbal or physical” and “feared for her safety and for disturbance of custody with her son.” Fearing retaliation, the victim went into “shutdown mode” during King’s alleged perpetration, according to her legal filings.
In addition to post-traumatic stress, the victim in her complaint says she also suffers from panic attacks, emotional distress, severe depression and psychological trauma as a direct result of King’s alleged misconduct in sexually assaulting her against her will.
The victim, with assistance from trial attorney Craig J. Hubert, filed her civil-action complaint in Mercer County Superior Court’s Law Division on Jan. 23, according to a copy obtained by The Trentonian. She is seeking punitive damages, general damages, compensatory damages and any other relief the court deems just and equitable.
Authorities in June 2016 slapped King with a summons complaint charging him with second-degree official misconduct for committing unauthorized exercises of his official functions in Trenton on April 11, 2016. Then a state grand jury handed up an indictment on Dec. 2, 2016, charging King with one count of second-degree sexual assault by force or coercion, two counts of second-degree official misconduct, one count of second-degree pattern of official misconduct, two counts of second-degree bribery as a public servant and one count of tampering with public records.
Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Billmeier ordered King to be held on $75,000 full bond or cash bail following the seven-count indictment, but King immediately posted bail to avoid being jailed overnight, court records show.
A state grand jury said King sexually assaulted one of his clients by coercion, alleging he threatened to negatively affect the victim’s visits with her children if she did not perform one or more sexual favors, including an act involving sexual penetration.
King is further accused of using bribery tactics and operating a publicly owned vehicle to facilitate improper relationships with two of his DYFS clients. The indictment alleges King knowingly solicited, accepted or agreed to accept one or more sexual favors from both clients in exchange for his consideration to render favorable treatment in the enforcement or non-enforcement of supervision requirements during client-child visitations.
The last count in the indictment accuses King of tampering with public records on allegations he drafted false case activity notes regarding his supervision or transportation of a client.
King is represented by private defense attorney Robin Lord and is scheduled to appear April 11 before Superior Court Judge Thomas Brown for a defense motion hearing.
The case is being prosecuted by New Jersey Deputy Attorney General Brian Uzdavinis. A spokesman for the state Attorney General’s Office said “we expect to have a trial date set fairly soon.”
King was originally slated to go to criminal trial in January before authorities decided to push it back in favor of more pretrial procedural hearings.
Former New Jersey Attorney General Christopher Porrino previously issued a statement alleging King “ruthlessly exploited a mother’s love for her children and his power over that emotionally charged relationship to coerce them into having sex with him.”
As the Attorney General’s Office continues pushing ahead with its criminal case against King, the state AG’s Office also has to defend the Department of Children and Families and the Division of Child Protection and Permanency against the civil complaint that one of King’s victims filed.
The state Attorney General’s Office has received a forwarded copy of the victim’s summons and civil complaint on March 1, according to court documents. The AG’s Office on March 6 filed a request seeking to get the civil case transferred from state Superior Court to the federal court in Trenton.
King’s defense attorney in a previous interview said King’s accusers were “financially motivated” and sought lawyers to sue the state child welfare agency over King’s alleged misconduct.
“He maintains his innocence,” Robin Lord said of her client in a 2016 interview.