Gasconade County Republican – by Dave Marner
A federal civil rights violation case against a former deputy sheriff, Sheriff Randy Esphorst, and Gasconade County was filed Monday along with a motion to allow the victim’s case to proceed under the pseudonym “Jane Doe.”
Martin Rainey, a former sheriff’s deputy who was indicted by a Gasconade County grand jury this summer in connection with alleged sexual assaults of two underage females, is named as a defendant in the “motion for leave to proceed under pseudonym” filed Sept. 28 in the U.S. Eastern District Court by Thomas E. Schwartz with Holloran and Schwartz, LLP, St. Louis. The case has been assigned to Eastern Division Judge Audrey G. Fleissig.
On behalf of “Jane Doe,” Schwatz’s motion asks the judge to allow the case to proceed without revealing the true identity of the victim. “Plaintiff has filed this lawsuit against Defendants after suffering extreme emotional and physical pain, and the deprivation of her Constitutional rights resulting from an alleged forcible rape perpetrated by Defendant Rainey, a former deputy sheriff in Gasconade County, who used the authority and respect of his badge to commit such offenses.”
Rainey and Sheriff Randy Esphorst are listed individually as defendants. Gasconade County is listed as a defendant.
County Clerk Lesa Lietzow said her office received a call from a media outlet in St. Louis asking for information.
“We got a call from some media outlet this morning,” Lietzow told The Republican. “Hermann has been without Internet since late last week. We know nothing about a lawsuit. It was working at 8 a.m. today and was down by 8:30.”
Mary Weston, prosecuting attorney for the county, was also without Internet access and was aware of the case only from receiving a phone call from Lietzow.
“I’ve been called by Lesa,” said Weston early Tuesday afternoon. “The Internet’s been down so I can’t get any information. The Internet’s been down. All down.”
Larry Miskel, presiding commissioner and a Hermann resident, was also in the dark Tuesday without Internet access.
“I called Randy (Esphorst), Lesa and they haven’t heard anything either other than this,” said Miskel about a call from a member of the St. Louis media. He said the county has not received any previous notification of a federal lawsuit nor had anyone been served notice as of Tuesday.
“None whatsoever,” said Miskel.
Counts 1, 2 and 3 of the complaint are directed at Rainey. Counts 4, 5, 6, and 7 are directed at Esphorst. Gasconade County is named directly in Counts 8, 9, 10, and 11 of the complaint.
Jane Doe, who is identified in the complaint as a resident of the Bay community, seeks “actual and compensatory damages” in excess of $75,000, punitive damages and reasonable legal fees on each of the 11 counts alleged.
Rainey, of Sullivan, is alleged to have:
• violated Doe’s Constitutional rights guaranteed under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments,
• intentionally inflicted emotional distress on Doe, and,
• false imprisonment of Doe.
The complaint accuses Esphorst, individually, and the county separately, of:
• willfull failure to supervise amounting to a deliberate indifference to plaintiff’s Constitutional rights,
• false imprisonment,
• intentional infliction of emotional distress, and,
• negligent supervision.
In the complaint filed by Schwartz, Jane Doe alleges that on or about July 14, 2002, she called the sheriff’s office to inquire about whether or not an ex-parte order had been served on her estranged husband. Rainey, while responding to her inquiry as a deputy sheriff, made contact with Doe, the complaint alleges. During the period July 14 to Aug. 6, 2012, Rainey is alleged to have called Doe 87 times and sent her 1,288 text messages to her phone, “many of which were sexually explicit in nature,” according to the complaint.
Rainey is alleged to have gone to the woman’s residence, made sexual advances, and attempted to kiss her at her doorway. Rainey is alleged to have threatened to arrest Doe’s husband although he knew the investigation and arrest warrant were fictitious.
Doe alleges Rainey offered to “make this all go away” if she would “engage in sexual intercourse.”
On or about Aug. 4 in 2012, Rainey picked Doe up from her residence while in uniform, while armed, and driving a county sheriff’s patrol vehicle, and drove her to a motel in Owensville where he directed her to reserve a room in a fictitious name.
Doe alleges she began to feel “drugged” after Rainey offered her an open soft drink. The complaint alleges “Defendant Rainey used the apparent an inherent authority of a deputy sheriff to coerce Plaintiff into having non-consensual sexual intercourse with him.”
The complaint goes on to state Doe suffered physical injuries and was detained against her will and unable to leave the motel due to being drugged.
In Count 2, she alleges that due to Rainey’s actions she, “suffered from an unspeakable trespass to her person and dignity and will continue to bear the emotional scars of such.”
In the counts against Esphorst and the county, Doe alleges the failure to properly supervise Rainey “amounted to a deliberate indifference to Plaintiff’s Constitutional rights.”
Rainey is currently free on a court-reduced $50,000 bond and faces nine felony charges issued June 26 following Gasconade County grand jury proceedings. The grand jury approved charges including two counts of acceding to corruption by a public servant, five counts of forcible rape, and one count each of statutory rape and use of a child in a sexual performance.
The charges issued following the grand jury proceeding stem from incidents reported in January, February, July, and August 2012 and include separate cases involving at least two underage female victims.
Sheriff’s Capt. Chuck Howard said in October 2012 the department began an investigation into Rainey after allegations of sexual misconduct were made.
Rainey resigned on Nov. 8, 2012, after it was determined he had violated “several Sheriff’s Office policies and procedures,” the sheriff said in a statement issued in January 2015 when Rainey and an alleged co-conspirator, Jonathan E. Pohlmann, Owensville, were initially charged in multi-count felony warrants issued by Associate Circuit Judge Robert D. Schollmeyer out of Osage County.
Additional complaints made against Rainey and Pohlmann between November 2012 and November 2013 were included in the charges filed earlier this year after Esphorst on Nov. 18, 2013, asked the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control to open an independent investigation.
Federal Court records available Tuesday did not list any dates for scheduled hearings for the case.
Although he had not viewed Doe’s complaint, he did not believe it was from either of the juveniles whose cases were heard by the grand jury. Rainey and Pohlmann are both awaiting trial on the felony charges issued following the grand jury ruling of a true bill
“On or about Aug. 4 in 2012, Rainey picked Doe up from her residence while in uniform, while armed, and driving a county sheriff’s patrol vehicle, and drove her to a motel in Owensville where he directed her to reserve a room in a fictitious name.”
A gun would have come in handy (for her).
“The complaint goes on to state Doe suffered physical injuries and was detained against her will and unable to leave the motel due to being drugged.”
What did she think he was going to do, play Parcheesi?
Regardless, he’s STILL a pig, and badly in need of a dirt overcoat.