The victim alleges some of the 200 assaults occurred in an office at Count Basie Fields. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
UPDATE: This post has been edited to remove the name of the victim, which appeared in the original version. The court documents previously included have also been removed.
By JOHN T. WARD
An Ocean County woman is suing Red Bank borough government over sexual assaults committed against her in childhood by a borough employee in the mid-1980s.
In a civil suit filed last August against the borough and its parks and recreation department, a 49-year-old Toms River resident alleges that a now-dead borough employee, Ronald West, sexually assaulted her more than 200 times starting in 1985, when she was 11 years old.
The assaults continued for two years, both at West’s borough office at Count Basie Fields and his home, on West Bergen Place (now Drs. James Parker Boulevard), the plaintiff alleges.
In 1987, West was indicted on three counts of sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child. Two months later, before Superior Court Judge Benedict Nicosia, a former Red Bank mayor, West pleaded guilty to two counts, and was sentenced to two years probation, the suit claims.
Noting that West had received a probationary sentence 10 years earlier for an unspecified crime, the judgment stated that “it is unlikely that the circumstances that led defendant to the commission of the present offense will recur. He is 37 years old. Probation and counseling are an appropriate disposition.”
The plaintiff was the victim in the case, identified in the indictment by her initials, and testified against West, the suit says.
West died in February, 2006, according to the suit.
Filed by Haddonfield lawyer John Baldante, the lawsuit identifies West as “President of the Borough of Red Bank Department of Parks and Recreation and the head coach of the Bobcats football team.”
It claims West “systematically sexually abused” the plaintiff more than 200 times, starting when she became one of two females on the Bobcats team, which had recently gone co-ed.
“Customarily, Ronald called [the plaintiff] into his office or house, both located at or near Count Basie Field, under the pretense of showing [her] football film to improve her game or under the pretense of [the girl] assisting Ronald with fabricated equipment issues,” the suit claims.
What began as talk about “inappropriate and personal topics” by West proceeded to sexual abuse, the suit claims.
In the suit, the plaintiff claims that borough employees “actually knew and/or had reason to know that Defendant, Ronald West, engaged in a sexual offense of flagrantly lewd and inappropriate conduct and/or sexual abuse/assault.”
Red Bank denied the claims in answers filed by borough Attorney Dan Antonelli in November.
The borough “cannot be liable as no dangerous condition existed at the time of Plaintiff’s alleged injury, no negligent act or omission by the Answering Defendant created any dangerous condition, Plaintiff’s alleged injury was not proximately caused by any allegedly dangerous condition, no action or inaction taken by the Answering Defendant was palpably unreasonable,” its response says.
The borough also asserts that the plaintiff “did not suffer any injury entitling her to damages for pain and suffering, nor did Plaintiff suffer any permanent loss of a bodily function, disfigurement, or dismemberment, nor did Plaintiff incur medical treatment expense in excess of $3,600.00.”
Baldante did not respond to a redbankgreen email seeking comment last week.
In May, 2019, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed a law extending time limits under which victims of sexual assault in childhood may file criminal charges and civil complaints. It also created a one-time, two-year window allowing survivors to bring claims that were barred by previous statutes of limitation, according to the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault.
The court docket shows no filings since the borough’s answer was filed.
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