STATESVILLE, N.C. (CN) - A North Carolina district attorney sexually harassed an attorney who worked for him, then defamed her by telling local attorneys he'd fired her for misconduct, though she had resigned to get away from him, the woman claims in court claims.
Whitney Nicole Shaffer sued James C. Gaither Jr., in Federal Court, individually and in his official capacity as district attorney of North Carolina's 25th Prosecutorial District.
Shaffer claims that during the four months she worked as an assistant district attorney, Gaither repeatedly tried to coerce her into having sex with him, pressured her into accompanying him to his lake house, and otherwise engaged in aggressive and abusive behavior while he was drinking or drunk.
Shaffer was assigned to the Catawba County District Court and worked in a satellite office in Hickory, N.C.
"The satellite office was usually staffed only by plaintiff and an investigator, and plaintiff was frequently in the office alone," Shaffer says in the lawsuit.
Shaffer says her predecessor in the Hickory office told her that Gaither stopped by the office only every couple of months. "However, beginning almost immediately, defendant appeared unannounced in the Hickory Office as often as once or twice a week. Defendant usually arrived near the end of the day, when plaintiff was alone in the office," according to the complaint.
It continues: "During these unannounced visits, defendant frequently appeared to be inebriated or otherwise impaired. He engaged plaintiff in conversations which were inappropriate, and which she found threatening and abusive."
On one occasion, she says, Gaither grabbed her wrist and "explained how important 'wrist control' was to overpowering an opponent."
On another, she says, he told her his favorite television program was "Vikings," "explaining that he enjoyed it because the Vikings were not afraid to kill for what they wanted."
"Throughout plaintiff's employment, defendant expressly stated to plaintiff that he was a very powerful man and was not afraid to use his power in favor of those who supported him and against those that crossed him or would not support him," Shaffer says in the complaint.
To illustrate his power, Shaffer claims, Gaither directed her to enter dismissals on contested cases for which she was not the acting ADA. She says she believes these orders were an attempt to obtain favorable or preferential judicial outcomes for his friends and political allies. She says she refused to comply with the requests.
One request she did comply with was giving Gaither her personal cell phone number, believing, she says, that he would use it to contact her for work-related issues if he could not reach her in any other way.
However, she says, shortly thereafter, she began receiving text messages from Gaither that were clearly not related to work.
" On or about the afternoon of Thursday, April 25, 2013, defendant made another unannounced visit to the Hickory office. He then insisted that plaintiff leave the office and go to dinner with him, so that he could speak with her without being overheard by anyone else. Plaintiff reluctantly agreed because she believed her job would be in jeopardy if she did not attend," Shaffer says in the complaint.