ST. LOUIS - A lawsuit says a female inmate was sexually assaulted in jail after falsely being charged with the murder of her husband.
A woman known in court papers as A.H. filed a federal complaint on August 30 in the Eastern District of Missouri against Montgomery County and the Montgomery Jail, including 11 employees of the jail, and Warren County for sexual harassment and assault, negligent infliction of emotional distress and other claims.
According to the complaint, in August 2014, after being charged with the murder of her husband, for which she was acquitted by a jury in 2019, A.H. was transferred from the Warren County Jail to the Montgomery County Jail. On August 30, 2016, A.H. made a complaint about sexual harassment by Montgomery County correctional officers, including improper sexual touching of her breasts and vagina, the suit says.
A.H. alleges that after making the complaint, nothing was done to protect her from continued inappropriate sexual contact from the corrections officers. A.H. alleges that one of the officers forcefully put his penis in her vagina during one incident and afterward, she continued to suffer sexual harassment along with molestation and rape.
A.H. is represented by James D. O'Leary of O'Leary, Shelton, Corrigan, Peterson, Dalton and Quillin, LLC.
U.S. District Court Eastern District of Missouri case number 4:21-cv-01077-MTS