Woman Says She Was Raped at Job Interview

VANCOUVER, Wash. (CN) - A real estate agent raped and beat a woman in a bogus interview for a job he advertised on Craigslist, then didn't even hire her, the woman claims in court.

Jennifer Dominguez sued Leslie Dean "Pete" Cansler and Avalar West Realty, in Clark County Superior Court. She also sued Meg Doe, allegedly Cansler's girlfriend.

Dominguez claims she responded to a Craigslist ad for a receptionist that exclusively sought "young and slender" women, and arranged an interview with Cansler at a Vancouver Starbucks.

"Cansler told plaintiff that he was the owner of defendant Avalar West Realty," the lawsuit states.

The Avalar West Realty home page, checked this morning (Tuesday), lists Cansler as an Avalar employee, a "certified short sale specialist."

During the interview with Dominguez, Cansler "asked plaintiff what her age was and asked several questions about her sexual preferences," according to the lawsuit.

Dominguez told her she got the job but "that she would have to come to his house that evening to see the office in his house and to meet [his] girlfriend," with whom she would be working, according to the complaint.

"Plaintiff told Cansler that she did not want to participate in any sexual activity and Cansler told her that she would not have to do so," Dominguez says in the complaint.

She says she got an address from Cansler and gave it to a friend in case anything went wrong that night. When Cansler picked her up, "he drove her to a house in north Clark County that was not the address he had given (her). ... This house is in a remote area and appeared ... to have no other houses in the vicinity."

At the house, Cansler introduced Dominguez to his girlfriend, Meg Doe, and then "told plaintiff to take off her clothes and have sex with him," Dominguez says in the lawsuit. "Plaintiff believed that she had no choice to obey this instruction because she was in an isolated house in a rural area and she was afraid that Cansler might hurt her or throw her out of the house and leave her to find her own way home.

"Cansler penetrated plaintiff in that vagina and in her mouth several times, all without her consent.

"Cansler hit plaintiff a number of times while having sex with her, causing her physical injury."

Two days later, Dominguez says, Cansler called her and told her she was not going to get the job.

She seeks damages for sexual assault, battery, false imprisonment and sex discrimination; she claims that Meg Doe knew what Cansler was planning and did nothing to stop it.

She is represented by Peter Sloane with Sloane and MacKenzie.

The Avalar West Realty home page contains a link to Cansler's home page. On it, he describes himself as "a licensed Real Estate Specialist," who has lived in the Portland/Vancouver area his whole life.

"I am here to make sure that your process is a fun and rewarding one!" Cansler says on the home page, which offers "Free counsuling!" (Sic.)

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