A second woman has filed a lawsuit against former Kanawha County Sheriff’s deputy Cass Close, alleging he sexually harassed and assaulted her at the Kanawha County Judicial Annex several times since 2023.
Close was fired from the Kanawha County Sheriff's Office last month after another woman accused him of sexually assaulting her while she was in custody in the Kanawha County Judicial Annex waiting for a hearing. He is being held in the Southwestern Regional Jail on the charge of imposition of sexual acts on an inmate.
That woman filed a lawsuit earlier this month against Close, an unnamed supervisory deputy and the Kanawha County Commission.
In the federal lawsuit filed Monday in the Southern District of West Virginia, an unnamed second woman accuses Close of a “vicious and lengthy pattern of sexual assault and abuses,†starting in 2023.
The woman, a resident of Kanawha County, has been arrested on “many occasions†for misdemeanors stemming from substance use disorder and other mental health issues, the lawsuit says. She encountered Close in the Judicial Annex around 20 times.
Close would make comments of a sexual nature and “force his body†on the woman in what he called a hug, the lawsuit alleges.
In a specific 2024 incident, while the woman was handcuffed in the first-floor holding area of the Judicial Annex, Close sexually assaulted her and made “horrifically inappropriate†comments to the woman, the lawsuit states.
The woman was afraid to seek help because of possible repercussions from Close, the lawsuit claims.
On another day, the woman was “on bond†in the lobby of the first floor. According to the lawsuit, Close directed the woman to an area of the lobby out of earshot of other people. He then made inappropriate comments to the woman and told her to go into the restroom and send a “naked picture of a private area of her body†to his cellphone, the lawsuit says.
“Fearing for her ... freedom and other repercussions, and knowing Deputy Sheriff Close’s capabilities, having already been the victim of a brutal sexual assault at his hands in that same building, as well as having a history of surviving other traumatic sexual assaults and fearing Deputy Sheriff Close and also fearing that he would interfere with her bond and negatively affect the outcome of her Magistrate Court proceedings, Plaintiff did as instructed,†the lawsuit says.
Close then replied to the woman’s text with a picture of his genitals, the lawsuit alleges.
Each time the woman saw Close during 2024 and 2025, he made inappropriate comments to her, the lawsuit states.
The woman also is suing an unnamed supervisory deputy and the Kanawha County Commission. She is asking for a trial by jury and damages for pain, medical bills, economic losses and trauma.
“Sadly, these allegations seem to confirm what many have suspected, that — as alleged — this was no isolated incident. To have it go on for such a lengthy time right in the middle of the state’s largest and most visited courthouse is beyond shocking,â€Â wrote Jesse Forbes, the attorney for the woman who was allegedly sexually assaulted.
L. Dante’ diTrapano, another attorney for the woman, said she has come forward to law enforcement.
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