ORLANDO, Fla.,None — A teenager and former lifeguard is suing Volusia County and its Beach Patrol on allegations that she was coerced into having sex with adult Beach Patrol officers as a rite of passage.
Earlier this year, two Beach Patrol officers were arrested in connection with the sex scandal. Now, the teenager who accused them is suing, claiming there's a "culture of sex abuse and depravity" inside the Beach Patrol.
The victim claims county officials knew what was going on and did nothing to stop it.
Top county leaders are named in the suit. The director of Beach Patrol, the director of public protection and the county manager are all responsible, according to the 40-page complaint. The suit claims they knew what was going on inside the department for years and did nothing to stop it.
Volusia County's Beach Patrol, assigned to protect families and children, now faces a lawsuit claiming it abused children for years. It's based on the complaint of 19-year-old Ashley Drury, who said she was coerced into sex with three employees.
The report says as many as 22 other girls, and many working as lifeguards, believed sex was a requirement of their jobs.
"My client was nothing more than a very petite, athletic, sweet girl that was swept into a world she had never been exposed to before and now will suffer for the rest of her life because of it," Drury's attorney, Brett Hartley, said.
Hartley said Drury's experience in 2008 is just the most recent. The suit cites an established culture of sexual abuse ignored by county management.
But a county spokesman pointed out Wednesday, when Officer Robert Tameris was arrested last year on sex-related charges, it was a county internal investigation that got the ball rolling.
"It's just unfortunate we find ourselves with an action of a few really painting an agency that's excellent in a bad light," county spokesperson Dave Byron said.
Investigations and changes, though, should have started long ago, Hartley said. His suit cites a 1996 article in Penthouse magazine where it says a Beach Patrol spokesman described lifeguards as "hustlers" for the article titled "Sex on the Beach."
"A reasonable person should have known this was taking place based on the circumstances and what was going on," Hartley said.
The lawsuit filed is a civil rights lawsuit asking for damages. Since it has been filed in federal court, there is no limit on what a jury could award.
Drury's attorney said it's not something that has just popped up in the last year or two, that there is evidence it has been a problem since the mid-1990s.
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