By Stephen Betts
Bangor Daily News
ROCKLAND, Maine — A Waldo County woman is seeking $3 million in damages against Knox County for what she said were repeated sexual assaults by a jail officer.
The woman suffered sexual assaults, assaults, harassment and terrorizing at the hands of 61-year-old corrections officer Richard S. Wellington in July and August 2013 while she was incarcerated at the Knox County Jail, according to a notice of claim filed on behalf of the Burnham woman by attorney Keith Sullivan of Winthrop.
Wellington was indicted in April on two counts of unlawful sexual contact and 17 counts of unlawful sexual touching in connection with alleged incidents involving three women being held at the jail. The alleged sexual assaults began in November 2012 and ended in August 2013, according to court papers.
Wellington had been free on bail until he was arrested again in September after allegedly threatening to shoot his wife. He since has been held without bail awaiting trial.
Wellington was hired as a part-time corrections officer in April 2012 and was fired in August 2013. He previously had worked at the Maine State Prison.
In Maine, it is a crime for a guard to have sexual contact with an inmate because of the position of authority a corrections officer has over a person in jail.
No lawsuit has been documented yet, but in Maine, a notice of intent must be filed first in order to sue a government agency. No other claims have arisen out of Wellington’s alleged actions.
The majority of the incidents involving the Burnham woman occurred in the laundry room and within three to four days of her release, according to Sullivan’s filing.
“The incidents started as vulgar, crude and sexual language from Mr. Wellington,” Sullivan states in the claim.
Wellington asked Sullivan’s client how much it would cost to have sexual intercourse, the claim states. Wellington also hugged the female inmate against her will. She said Wellington was visibly intoxicated during these offenses, according to the claim.
The woman said she became paranoid while working in the laundry out of fear that Wellington would harass or assault her because there were no cameras in the laundry room. She said when she heard him coming, she would go into the hallway where there are cameras.
She said Wellington would come up from behind her and put his hands down her shirt and touch her breasts, according to the court documents. There also were numerous instances of him grabbing her buttocks and genitalia, the claim states.
The woman said she rebuffed every sexual advance by Wellington.
This was the second legal action against the county for sexual misconduct by guards. Adam Grierson was convicted in August of gross sexual assault against an inmate. That woman sued the county in federal court but the county was cleared and did not have to pay the victim any money.