Sex Scandal Alleged at SCLC in Ohio

DAYTON, Ohio (CN) - A woman claims the director of the Dayton office of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference had sex with her when she was 16. She claims that Raleigh Tramwell also masturbated frequently in her presence, had her videotape him receiving oral sex from another woman, directed and appeared in other pornographic videotapes, including one in which Tramwell "engaged in sexual activity with a mother and her daughter," and that he defamed her on TV and in print after she reported his sexual harassment.

Damisha Douglas sued the SCLC, the Ohio Baptist General Convention, the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance and Raleigh Tramwell in Montgomery County Court. She claims that Tramwell's harassment and assaults came when she was an employee of the SCLC, as a minor and as an adult.

Douglas claims that when she was 13, "she walked in on defendant Trammell having sex with her mother at the Dayton SCLC office." Her mother was assigned to do community service at the SCLC office in Dayton after she was released from prison, according to the complaint.

When she was 14, she says, her mother sent her to live with Trammell, so she could attend summer school.

Douglas claims that, as her minister, Trammell learned that she had been sexually abused as a child. She adds: "Defendant Trammell began asking for explicit details about what happened and how the plaintiff responded. ... The questions by defendant Trammell about her sexual abuse made plaintiff very uncomfortable but, because he was her minister, she continued to answer his questions and provide details. ...

"While Plaintiff was residing with Defendant Trammell that summer," she says, "she discovered him masturbating outside her bedroom door as she dressed for school."

After that summer, she says, she had no more "significant contact" with Trammell until she was 16, when she began to work for the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance and the Dayton SCLC in the kitchen.

"When plaintiff was sixteen, her mother approached her and told her the family was having money problems. She explained to plaintiff that defendant Trammell would give them money if she agreed to have sex with him. After first refusing, plaintiff reluctantly agreed. She had sex with defendant Trammell as a sixteen year old minor."

She says she was still working for the IMA and the SCLC when a former co-worker, nonparty Harriet Boykin, asked if she could come and see Douglas's "new place." Douglas says Boykin arrived with Trammell, and that Boykin then made sexual advances to her, which she rebuffed.

"When plaintiff and Ms. Boykin got to the living room, Defendant Trammell had removed his pants and was masturbating on the plaintiff's couch," the complaint states.

"After telling plaintiff she did not know what she was missing, Ms. Boykin began to perform oral sex on defendant Trammell as plaintiff watched. When the two of them finished, they left the plaintiff's residence."

Douglas says that a few months later, after Boykin returned to work for IMA and SCLC, "The plaintiff was approached again by Ms. Boykin and told that defendant

Trammell would pay them to have sex. The plaintiff first declined, but agreed to participate on a limited basis when offered one thousand dollars.

"The plaintiff accompanied defendant Trammell and Ms. Boykin to Ms. Boykin's

residence.

"The plaintiff allowed Ms. Boykin to perform oral sex on her while defendant Trammell watched and masturbated. Ms. Boykin then performed oral sex on defendant Trammell and plaintiff made a video recording of it. This was one of several sexual encounters videotaped by or for defendant Trammell."

All this comes from the first 8 pages of the 30-page complaint, which continues with graphic descriptions of Trammell's alleged actions.

For instance: "Among defendant Trammell's sexual partners in the videos were Plaintiff's mother ... Of the other former employees depicted in the videos, one included defendant Trammell engaged in sexual activity with a mother and her daughter.

"All the individuals depicted in the videos engaging in sexual relations with defendant Trammell are easily identifiable.

"In addition to participating in the videos, defendant Trammell is operating the camera and directing the actions of other participants."

Douglas claims that Trammell's predations continued, as she worked for the SCLC as an adult. She says she finally reported Trammell's sexual harassment, and that he retaliated for it in many ways, including stopping her pay, booting her and her children from the SCLC, barring them from SCLC events, and defaming her in the media.

"Since learning of plaintiff's sexual harassment complaint, defendant Trammell has made a number of defamatory statements in both television media and print media regarding plaintiff. Specifically, defendant Trammell has publicly stated that plaintiff committed theft of organization funds and lied about his sexually inappropriate conduct toward her. He has suggested that the plaintiff controlled the finances of the organization and is responsible for any misappropriation of those funds.

"While defendant Trammell has not used the plaintiff's actual name when making these defamatory statements, he has identified her sufficiently for her to be known by those familiar with Dayton SCLC's operation," according to the complaint, which adds, "Defendant SCLC chose not to correct the defamatory statements being provided to the media by defendant Trammell."

Douglas seeks punitive damages for sexual harassment, retaliation, assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation, privacy invasion, aiding and abetting, and other charges. She is represented by Julius Carter of Dayton.

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