Underage Beach Sex Case Heads to State Court
Underage Beach Sex Case Heads to State Court
ORLANDO (CN) - State court is a better venue for claims that Volusia County and its beach officials fostered an environment where underage lifeguards felt coerced into having sex with their supervisors, a federal judge ruled.
While working as a lifeguard for the Volusia County Beach Patrol in 2008, 17-year-old Ashley Drury allegedly felt coerced into having sex with her three supervisors because it was "part of the culture" and "a condition for employment." Two of the supervisors, Jecoa Duane Simmons and Robert Paul Tameris, were 30 and 43 years old at the time; "senior lifeguard" Christian Duarte was also 30.
In August 2010, she filed an 11-count complaint against those men, as well as the county and four local officials for battery, negligent hiring, constitutional violations, conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent retention.
By the following spring, Drury's claims remained only against the three men with whom she had alleged sexual activity and one county official, Beach Patrol director Kevin Sweat.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/01/27/43418.htm