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Susan Clingerman
(Photo: Michigan Department of Corrections)
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LANSING
— A former state prison inmate who fathered a child with a prison
counselor while serving time in a Jackson-area prison is suing the
Michigan Department of Corrections and state officials, saying he was
forced into sex and officials should have known what was happening.
Steven
Moerman of Grand Rapids alleges prison counselor Susan Lee Clingerman
used him as "a virtual sex slave, demanding sexual gratification at her
whim," while he was imprisoned at Parnall Correctional Facility on a
drug charge in 2014 and receiving counseling for mental illness.
In
a lawsuit filed in September in Jackson County Circuit Court, Moerman
alleges prison officials knew or should have known what was
happening because another prison counselor acted as a lookout for
Clingerman.
The
suit, which names Gov. Rick Snyder, the corrections department and
current and former prison officials as defendants, alleges sexual
assault, emotional distress and inadequate hiring, training and
supervision, among other counts. It seeks unspecified damages.
"Defendants
failed to provide Mr. Moerman humane conditions of confinement by
knowingly, voluntarily, recklessly, and with willful disregard to Mr.
Moerman's personal safety, allowing him to be sexually assaulted and
raped," according to allegations in Moerman's lawsuit filed by Okemos
attorney Sterlin Mesadieu.
Chris Gautz, a spokesman for the
corrections department, said Clingerman was banned from prison property
in September 2014 and fired in January 2015. The investigation turned up
no evidence of another employee acting as a lookout for Clingerman, he
said. Gautz otherwise declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing pending
litigation.
Attempts to reach Clingerman on Wednesday through her family and a former attorney were unsuccessful.
In
September 2014, a Parnall corrections officer caught Clingerman and
Moerman having sex in her office, according to prison records filed as
exhibits with the lawsuit. Corrections Officer Timothy Hampton told the
Michigan State Police he looked through the glass door of Clingerman's
office and saw her bent over a chair. When he walked into the office, he
saw Clingerman jump up and pull her skirt down and Moerman pull his
pants up, according to a police report.
Clingerman, 44, of
Mason signed a statement saying she'd had sex with Moerman, who also is
44, "on at least four occasions," and "I am pregnant w/ his child."
In her written statement, Clingerman said she had a relationship with Moerman.
"I did not know I could be prosecuted for this," she said. "I knew I could get into trouble — including firing."
Under
the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act, a prisoner is inherently
unable to consent to sex with a prison employee, such as a counselor,
because of the imbalance of power between them.
The state police
charged Clingerman with second-degree criminal sexual conduct, but she
instead pleaded guilty to a felony charge of misconduct in office, which
kept her off the sex offender registry, records show. A Jackson County
judge sentenced Clingerman to 27 days in jail and 18 months of
probation, records show.
Moerman, who is on parole, alleges
Clingerman was "desperately wishing to conceive a child," and
"intentionally targeted (him) and began fertility treatment."
In
April of this year, one month before she filed a paternity suit against
Moerman, Clingerman signed an administrative consent order that revoked
her social worker license. A DNA test showed Moerman is the father of
the child born to Clingerman in April 2015, according to an exhibit
filed with the lawsuit.
Moerman would now like to have shared custody of the child, Mesadieu said.
Mesadieu
wouldn't disclose the nature of the mental illness Moerman was being
counseled for, but said trauma from his experience with Clingerman has
made things worse.
The condition is debilitating enough that Moerman can't work, and his only income is from Social Security, the attorney said.
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/11/03/ex-inmate-claims-he-sex-slave-prison-counselor/93125396/
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