NM: Lawsuit Alleges Sexual Misconduct

Published: December 12, 2008
Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
(MCT)
http://www.newsok.com/lawsuit-alleges-sexual-misconduct/article/feed/31161

Dec. 12--A young Albuquerque man receiving special education services from the Albuquerque school district is suing his former support staffer, alleging she initiated a sexual relationship and threatened retaliation if he told anyone.

Joshua Romero, who until this year was in the Albuquerque Public Schools Adult Connections to Community Education and Support Services program, or ACCESS, filed suit in U.S. District Court in October accusing Cheryl Bradford of using her position to initiate a relationship.

Bradford was a community support liaison with the district's Transition Services program until February, APS spokesman Rigo Chavez said. She had been employed by the district 15 years.

The lawsuit alleges deprivation of due process and violation of equal protection and First Amendment rights. It seeks undetermined compensatory and punitive damages.

A message left at Sheehan, Sheehan and Stelzner of Albuquerque, the firm representing Bradford, was not returned Thursday. Bradford's listed telephone number was disconnected.

Matthew Coyte, Romero's attorney, said in an interview that his client was traumatized. The lawsuit says Romero has left the ACCESS program, is no longer employed and has moved back home with his mother.

''His current state is, he's an emotional wreck," Coyte said.

Romero was diagnosed with a learning disability that included an IQ of 65 in 1994, when he was 6 years old.

In 2006 he entered ACCESS, a job and living skills program for older special education students who have completed their academic requirements. The program assigned Bradford as his community support liaison.

Bradford, the lawsuit says, assisted his transition into the adult world by helping him find a job and an apartment, where she visited him regularly.

The complaint alleges that Bradford began a sexual relationship with Romero in 2007, when he was 19. It accuses Bradford of threatening to end Romero's educational assistance if he reported her conduct.

Bradford "used her position of authority as an APS special education counselor to sexually and psychologically abuse" Romero, the lawsuit says.

In March, court records show, a state District Court judge issued a two-year restraining order against both parties, acting on an application Bradford filed against Romero.

Romero's suit says Bradford told her supervisor the student had developed an infatuation for her and should not be believed. It also alleges she petitioned the court at that time because she feared he was going to report her. Romero had apparently taped an encounter in December 2007, the lawsuit states.

Another Romero attorney, Matthew Vance, said in an e-mail the case is "important to highlight the fact that sexual abuse of male students by female faculty or counselors is every bit as damaging as when the sexes are reversed. The abuse of power or a position of authority is never acceptable."

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(c) 2008, Albuquerque Journal, N.M.

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