Former DCF worker to get jail for pressuring clients into sex
TRENTON » Ex-state family worker Lamont King pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge after he was fired for pressuring two women into having sex with him while he supervised and had say over whether they got their children back in custody cases, authorities said.
King, 41, of Trenton, admitted to a second-degree conspiracy to commit a pattern of official misconduct, the state Attorney General’s Office said in a statement. He was in charge of supervising court-ordered child visits for the two women he preyed on, authorities said.
The plea agreement King reached with prosecutors calls for him to serve three years in prison and makes it impossible for him to hold another state job for abusing his authority, officials said. His sentencing is set for Nov. 16.
“The manner in which King pressured his victims into sexual relations by exploiting his authority and playing on their fears regarding their children was corrupt and deplorable,” Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in a statement.
King worked for the Department of Children and Families in the Division of Child Protection and Permanency, where he was responsible for transporting clients to visits he supervised. He wrote reports and made recommendations to the department and court about whether clients got their children back out of state custody, officials said.
Officials said King used that power as a tool to pressure two women into having sex with him multiple times over two years, starting in 2015, in violation of the department’s code of ethics.
He was suspended without pay and later fired when the sexual misconduct came to light.
King’s attorney didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.