Drug Snitch Claims Cop Demanded Sex

MINNEAPOLIS (CN) - A woman claims a Dodge County sheriff's deputy forced her to have sex with him after persuading her to work as a snitch "so she could maintain her liberty." She claims that weeks of sexual harassment preceded Deputy Sheriff Jeremy Gunderson's sexual battery in a motel room.

Plaintiff K.W., who acknowledges she used drugs, says Gunderson persuaded her to work as a confidential informant after she was detained during a police raid, and was found to be violating conditions of parole.

Gunderson's sexual harassment began soon thereafter, she says. She says Gunderson "instructed her that she was to call him 'daddy' and tell him every detail of what she was doing," and "began to intersperse sexual references over the course of the many conversations that he had with K.W."

Soon, Gunderson "began to command K.W. to do sexually explicit things," the complaint states. He would tell K.W. to send him 'pussy shots,' directing that K.W. should take nude pictures of herself with her cell phone and send them to Gunderson's cell phone. ... He would continue to remind her, 'I'm helping you, so you help me.' Feeling threatened and coerced if she did not accede to Gunderson's demands, K.W. eventually did send him approximately three nude photos of herself.

"Within says of this occurring," she says, "Gunderson sent K.W. sent K.W. a text message to the effect of 'let me see that pussy.'"

That night, she says, Gunderson came to the motel where she worked, "went into a room just off the motel entrance, took out his police badge and gun, and put them on a table where they were plainly visible." She claims that Gunderson was lying on a bed in the room, and "told K.W. to come and lie beside him. K.W. told him no."

She says that "Gunderson then started grabbing K.W., telling her, 'Now give me that ass.'"

She claims he "persisted in his demands" for "some 10 to 15 minutes. ... He led K.W. to believe that if she did not have sex with him, Gunderson would make it hard on her by either demanding that she do more and more as a CI or turn her case over to the federal authorities."

So she gave in and had sex with him, she says. She says she "eventually" told other law enforcement officials about Gunderson, and that "in a series of recorded phone calls ... Gunderson admitted having sex with K.W. while she was acting as his CI."

She claims that "no disciplinary action of any kind has been taken against Gunderson though his supervising officers were made aware of the misconduct."

K.W. demands punitive damages for constitutional violations, battery, emotional distress and negligence. He sued Gunderson, Dodge County, Dodge County Sheriff Gary Thompson and his Chief Deputy James Trihey.

She is represented by Frederick Goetz with Goetz & Eckland.

The Dodge County seat is Mantorville, Minn.

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