Kentucky Fire Department Sued in Sexual Assault of Minor Case

The victim of two sexual assaults that occurred on fire department property while she was a minor, has filed suit against the firefighter, the fire department and several individuals that she claims are responsible.

Emmalee Young filed suit last week in US District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky accusing William Michael Fields Jr. of providing her with alcohol, sexually assaulting her and making child pornography by recording it. Young was 17 at the time the assault took place.

Fields, 37, was convicted earlier this year of making child pornography. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison. At the time of the assault, Fields was a firefighter with the City of Paris Fire Department. He also served as a volunteer firefighter with the Harrison County Volunteer Fire Department and as a constable with Harrison County.

According to the complaint:

• Plaintiff had an interest in working as a first responder or in law enforcement when she finished high school.
• Plaintiff was interested in the daily operation of local fire houses and the work of emergency medical technicians.
• She participated in extracurricular fire and EMT programs in Bourbon and Harrison Counties.
• In early 2019, Defendant Fields met Plaintiff at the Harrison County Volunteer Fire Department Oddville Station in Cynthiana, Kentucky.
• Plaintiff was a minor and invited to the fire station by a friend.
• Both Plaintiff and her friend were significantly younger than Defendant Fields, who was 36 years old at the time.
• Defendant Fields asked Plaintiff about her sexual preferences. Plaintiff did not engage and felt awkward.
• On or about March 17, 2019, Defendant Fields met Plaintiff in the Walmart parking lot in Harrison County, Kentucky.
• Defendant Fields, in his Harrison County Constable vehicle and uniform, invited Plaintiff to look at fire and EMT vehicles at the Paris Fire Department’s storage facility in Bourbon County, Kentucky.
• Plaintiff agreed to ride with Defendant Fields to Paris to look at the fire and EMT vehicles.
• Before Defendant Fields and Plaintiff arrived at the Paris Fire Department’s storage facility, Defendant Fields contacted Officer Lewis Boyer and Officer Matt Royse to advise them that he was taking a female to the Paris Fire Department’s storage facility and requested that they not interfere with his field trip at the facility.
• The City of Paris had a custom of allowing the Paris Fire Department’s storage facility to be used as a location to hook up with women and otherwise engage in unprofessional, inappropriate, and unlawful activities.
• At the Paris Fire Department’s storage facility, Defendant Fields provided Plaintiff with alcohol while displaying Paris Fire Department’s vehicles and equipment.
• At the Paris Fire Department’s storage facility on March 17, 2019, Defendant Fields led the minor victim to the back of an ambulance, had sex with her and videoed the sex using the Plaintiff’s phone.
• Defendant Fields sent the child pornography from Plaintiff’s phone to his phone.
• On or about March 23, 2019, after the Plaintiff had been drinking alcohol at her home with her best friend, Defendant Fields messaged Plaintiff on Snap Chat to meet him at the Paris Fire Department.
• When Plaintiff arrived, Defendant Fields brought her to the Paris Fire Department EMT training facility where Defendant Fields had an office.
• In that office, Defendant Fields performed various sex acts on the minor Plaintiff and recorded those acts using the Plaintiff’s phone.
• Again Defendant Fields sent the child pornography from Plaintiff’s phone to his phone.
• Defendant Fields unlawful behavior was enabled by the power, uniform and resources provided by the City of Paris.
• The City of Paris and other Defendants valued the corrupt pursuit of illegal sexual conquests over the safety of the community and Plaintiff.

The complaint names Fields, the City of Paris, Fire Chief Michael Duffy, Cody Hensley (who the complaint identifies as “a fire department employee with the Paris Police Department”), and two Paris police officers, Lewis Boyer and Matt Royse, as defendants in the case. The complaint alleges a violation of Young’s due process rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, sexual battery, the violation of numerous state statutes related to the dissemination of a recording of a minor involved in a sexual act, and civil conspiracy.

Here is a copy of the complaint: