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Lurid Complaint|Against Christian School

(CN) - The pastor-principal of a private Christian school demanded sex from a teacher and paid her to have two abortions, then fired her when she said enough was enough, the woman claims in court.

The woman sued Grace Academy International, in Miami-Dade County Court.

Grace Academy International is the only defendant in the heading of plaintiff N.P.'s complaint, though in the body of the complaint it names the former principal and pastor, Gerald T. Ealey, as a defendant.

Grace Academy, of Opa Locka, is a Pentecostal school with 138 students, and is a member of the Association of Christian Teachers and Schools, according the PrivateSchoolReview.com Internet page.

N.P. says the school hired her for the 2008-09 school year. "Pastor Gerald T. Ealey was the head of the Grace Academy school, and also was the pastor at the church that was affiliated with the school," according to the complaint.

N.P. says that after a few months of work, she missed several days of work due to illnesses.

She says the vice principal told her in a meeting that if she missed more work she would be disciplined, but after the meeting, Ealey "approached her and made it clear that as long as she 'took care of him' her job was safe."

The complaint continues: "(N.P.) soon discovered that 'taking care' of Pastor Ealey required her to have a sexual relationship with him. Thereafter, Pastor Ealey made sexual advances towards (N.P.) all the time, and sent her numerous texts of a sexual nature, including a few texts with photographs of his penis. Pastor Ealey always told (N.P.) that if she ever reported his misconduct to any other person at the school, that no one would ever believe her and that it would only result in her immediate termination." (Reference to exhibit omitted.)

The complaint adds: "Pastor Ealey's misconduct was 'assisted' by the school insofar as each room that [N.P.] taught in had a video camera in it (until the school moved to a new building in 2010); and Pastor Ealey was the only person at the school who could watch the teachers (in his locked office) as they were in the rooms with the video camera. Pastor Ealey would not only send [N.P.] sexual texts while he was watching her on the video, but he would also call her on the phone and masturbate while he was talking to her.

"During this relationship, Pastor Ealey got [N.P.] pregnant two times, first in November 2009 and again in 2010. In both instances, Pastor Ealey paid for her to have an abortion, which caused her severe pain and severe emotional distress, which persists today." (Parentheses in complaint.)

In 2011, after more than 2 years of forced sex, N.P. says, she "finally decided that she could not longer continue to engage in a sexual relationship just to preserve her job, and she advised Pastor Ealey that the sexual relationship would end, and that he should stop sending sexually explicit text messages to her. Notwithstanding this request, Pastor Ealey continued to sexually harass her and continued to try to maintain a sexual relationship with her through the end of May 2011 (the end of the 2010-2011 school year).

"In the summer of 2011, [N.P.] was waiting to receive a new contract from the school for the 2011-2012 school year. After she did not receive a new contract, she contacted the school in late June or early July of 2011 ... and was advised, for the first time, that she would no longer be teaching at the school and that her employment was terminated. The decision to terminate her was made by Pastor Ealey (or pursuant to his instruction) as a direct and proximate result of her refusal to continue a sexual relationship with him." (Parentheses in complaint.)

N.P. seeks compensatory and punitive damages for assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent supervision.

She is represented by Martin Simkovic, of Miami.

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