A man acquitted of sexual abuse charges involving his stepdaughters has sued the Jordan School District over a letter a school psychologist wrote to his ex-wife that allegedly prompted the charges.
Jack H. May has also filed a separate lawsuit against the Salt Lake City Police Department because the Salt Lake police officer who arrested him on the charges was the father of the alleged abuse victims.When the officer arrested him in June 1993, the officer told May, "I hope you run, so I can shoot you in the back," according to the complaint filed in 3rd District Court.
The police department should have enforced a requirement that officers not participate in cases they are emotionally involved with, May said in his complaint.
"We are familiar with the claim, and we think it is without merit," said Roger Cutler, Salt Lake City attorney. "We will defend against it vigorously."
At the time of his arrest, May was estranged from his wife, with whom he had two children. The woman had four children from a previous marriage.
When May sought custody of his two children, the stepdaughters said he had abused them, according to his lawsuit.
Two counts of sexual abuse of a child were filed against May in June 1993. A jury acquitted May of both counts after a three-day trial before 3rd District Judge Richard Moffat last year.
May's defense attorney, Mary Corporon, is also representing him in both civil cases.
In June 1993, Yvonne McDowell, currently psychologist at Crescent View Middle School, sent a letter to May's estranged wife about a conversation she had had with the woman's daughter in February 1992.
The girl told McDowell that her stepfather had sexually abused her in the past but that she was no longer in danger, the letter said.
May later discovered that McDowell knew the letter was false when she wrote it, he says in his complaint.
"Yvonne McDowell had a duty of care to write the letter in question truthfully and accurately. Further, the defendant school district had a duty of care to supervise its employees in making reports of child sexual abuse and to promulgate standards and procedures for the reporting of child sex abuse by employees of the school district," the suit says.
The district does have written policy about such reporting, said Patty Dahl, district spokeswoman. The directive includes the instruction, "School employees shall not make contact with the child's family, or other persons, relatives, friends, neighbors, etc., for the purpose of determining the cause of the injury or apparent neglect" but it does not specifically prohibit contact with the family for other reasons.
May wants the psychologist and school district to financially compensate him for his suffering, which includes unfounded criminal charges and being deprived of contact with his children for one year, the suit says.