If you or someone you know needs resources or support related to sexual violence, contact the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault’s 24/7 hotline at 800-871-7741.
A Maine state caseworker helping a man reunify with his children allegedly used her position to coerce the father into sex, a lawsuit said.
The 35-page lawsuit outlines how the Maine Department of Health and Human Services caseworker, Morgan Polky, allegedly used her position to create situations where the father, Kerry Ross, feared she would sexually assault him. Ross felt he had to have sex with Polky and send her nude photos in order to be reunited with his children, according to the suit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Portland.
The lawsuit is the latest blow to the state’s embattled child welfare system, which has faced scrutiny in recent years over internal turmoil and high-profile deaths of kids. After the head of Maine’s Office of Child and Family Services, where Polky was employed, resigned late last year, DHHS leaders told lawmakers that recent changes hadn’t fixed “persistent problems” in the child welfare system.
Along with Polky, Ross is suing her supervisor Tracy Clark and DHHS, according to the lawsuit. The suit said Clark and DHHS are liable for Polky’s actions because Clark did not listen to concerns raised about a lack of documentation in the case, so she didn’t see the thousands of text messages between Polky and Ross.
The Bangor Daily News is naming Ross with his permission. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress following Polky’s actions, according to the lawsuit, which asks for a judge to award unspecified damages.
“I think if genders were switched, there might have been a more immediate and dramatic response,” Ross’ attorney Kristine Hanly said.
The department will review the complaint when it receives it, DHHS spokesperson Lindsay Hammes said.
Polky’s employment with the Office of Child and Family Services ended by April 2018, and her social work license was revoked, according to a consent agreement she signed. In it, she admitted to sexual misconduct and that she violated the National Association of Social Workers code of ethics.
In 2016 Ross was sentenced to six months in jail after he entered a plea in which he didn’t admit guilt to a misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of a child, after his 3-year-old daughter was found wandering naked in 40 degree weather in Livermore. He was also sentenced to two years for possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.
Polky was assigned to be Ross’ caseworker to help him make changes to his life to get back his children after DHHS took them into protective custody and made a motion to terminate his parental rights in December 2017.
The lawsuit does not say how many children Ross has and if he regained custody of them, and his attorney declined to say.
All contact between a family and a DHHS caseworker is supposed to be documented into an automated child welfare system, but Polky did not document thousands of text messages, multiple drug tests and other contact, the lawsuit said.
Polky and Ross initially texted about what he needed to comply with the reunification plan and were documented as a phone call. But as more texts were exchanged, the lawsuit said the documentation stopped. Eventually the texts escalated to Polky talking about her personal life and others, as well sending nude photos of herself.
She also modified the visitation schedule without including documentation, the lawsuit said.
Polky encouraged Ross to not talk to other officials about the first overnight weekend visit with his children, and said she would tell people she had checked in, the lawsuit said. During the same weekend, she also offered to make referrals, which would need authorization from a supervisor.
During conversations together, Kerry understood that Polky was telling him she would help him with his custody case by making visitation changes in his favor and using her supervisor’s trust in her to make decisions without oversight, according to the lawsuit.
At one point, she told Ross he didn’t need to take a drug test because she would take care of it, which he understood meant she would submit negative tests and they would spend that time together, the lawsuit said.
Polky later sent hundreds of sexually explicit texts about a sex dream she had about Ross, according to the suit. After Polky started to send nude photos of herself, Ross knew he needed to respond with his own nude photos if he wanted the favorable treatment in his case to continue, the lawsuit said.
On Feb. 20, Polky picked Ross up for a drug test, and while in the vehicle told Ross she wanted to have sex and touched his genitals over his clothes, the lawsuit said. Ross rejected Polky, and they had a long conversation about her expectation of sex.
When Polky drove Ross to another drug test on Feb. 26, she initiated sexual contact, according to the lawsuit. Ross participated because he thought it was necessary to continue the favorable case treatment.
“Kerry would not have engaged in any sexually explicit conversations, the sharing of sexually explicit photos nor engaged in sexual activity with Polky had he not been afraid of the negative consequences that Polky could inflict on his reunification efforts with his children,” the lawsuit said.
