Cop Sexually Assaulted Teen, Mom Says

MERIDEN, Conn. (CN) - A Meriden police officer sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl twice, once while on duty and the second time with a friend, the girl and her mother say in Superior Court. The police fired the officer for this, but refused to arrest him or charge him with anything, according to the complaint.

Officer Raymond Barnes, 38, had sex with the girl on Dec. 21, 2007, in the home of the woman with whom she was staying, and then left in the early morning after receiving a police call, according to the complaint.

Later that day, the girl told the daughter of her host that she "f-ed an officer," according to the complaint. The daughter then "confronted Barnes later on the phone about the plaintiff's story. Barnes admitted that he and the plaintiff had sexual intercourse that night," the complaint states.

Barnes returned to the house eight days later "with a friend named Thomas Nelson" who "repeatedly asked plaintiff ... to perform oral sex on him and offered to pay her for oral sex," according to the complaint.

The daughter says the plaintiff gave in and they all went to a bedroom where the daughter saw the plaintiff disrobe and perform "oral sex on both Nelson and defendant Barnes." The daughter then left the room, and the plaintiff later told her that she "had had vaginal intercourse with defendant Barnes and Nelson" after she left the room, according to the complaint.

The plaintiff also claims that while all this was happening her host's son, who was in the next room, became enraged at his girlfriend and "threatened to commit suicide." The daughter then "returned to warn defendant Barnes and give him a chance to leave before she called 911 to seek help for her brother," according to the complaint.

The Meriden Police Department's Internal Affairs investigated, and "Barnes was found to have committed the assaults," and was fired, the complaint states.

It adds: "Despite the findings, to this day, the Meriden Police Department has not arrested Barnes for the sexual assaults upon plaintiff and no criminal charges have been filed against Barnes for the sexual assaults."

The girl and her mom say it is the "policy and custom" of Meriden and its police chief, Cossette, to tolerate and fail to prosecute police officers for "serious crimes" such as these assaults. And they say Barnes had a history of misconduct before these assaults.

The girl seeks punitive damages. She is represented by A. Paul Spinella of Hartford.

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