It is the third suit accusing the county of tacitly allowing the sexual assault of young boys in county custody.
"He touches kids," the boy allegedly said of the sheriff during a private meeting with a county official.
Nothing was done. The rapes continued.
The allegations are made in the latest lawsuit accusing Warren County officials of looking the other way 30 years ago as the top local law enforcement officer targeted and groomed juvenile boys in county custody for sexual relationships.
The suit, officially filed last month at state Superior Court in Belvidere, mirrors two others filed since 2013 that refer to former Sheriff Edward Bullock. Though he is not named, the dates align with his tenure in the elected position.
Bullock died in November 2015 at the age of 86 and amid multiple civil and criminal claims of sexual assault.
Accuser: 'I hope Edward Bullock suffered'
The first allegations of a county cover-up of systemic abuse were publicly revealed in a legal notice in 2012. The second was filed last summer, about the time a criminal trial began on six counts of sexual assault.
The latest lawsuit -- which names the sheriff's estate, the county and multiple unidentified employees as defendants -- starts much like the others. The victim, identified as R.M. and now 45 years old, was 15 to 17 years old during the alleged abuse between 1985 and '87.
While at the courthouse, the sheriff allegedly would bring the victim to his office for massages. Bullock would also personally transport R.M., alone, between court and detention facilities, stopping on a dirt road on the way to molest and rape the boy, the lawsuit says. The sheriff allegedly threatened that he or his mother would go to jail if he ever told anyone.
The latest suit goes further, saying that the boy was brought on weekend or overnight visits to Bullock's home where he was forced to sleep in bed with the sheriff.
And, the lawsuit claims, a third party was involved: Bullock would bring R.M. to a friend's home on the Delaware River, where more assaults occurred. The friend, identified only as R.C., was "a known pedophile," the lawsuit says.
A group rallies outside state Superior Court in Flemington on July 28, 2015 during the Edward Bullock trial in support of his accusers. (Sue Beyer | For lehighvalleylive.com)After being abused several times, R.M. requested meetings with the heads of Warren Acres Juvenile Detention Center and the county youth shelter, the lawsuit says. And at one point he told his concerns to a staffer while he waited to be picked up by the sheriff.
"Employees of Warren County failed to investigate, failed to protect, failed to report and in addition affirmatively allowed the continuation of the practice of allowing the pedophilic conduct and actions" of the sheriff, resulting in abuse of others, the filing says.
A county spokesman declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying the county has not been served yet.
"It's about exposing this issue," filing attorney Brad Russo, who is also handling the other civil cases, said when notice of the suit was filed in January. "But it's also about the culture and the climate that fostered essentially a perfect storm of kids in county custody who are being preyed upon and served up despite everyone around them ... knowing what's going on."
Jury believed accuser in Bullock mistrial
THE OTHER CASES
- When he resigned from office in 1991, Bullock, then 63, was the subject of a state police sting in which he reportedly tried to curry sexual favors from a trooper posing as a sexually abused 17-year-old boy. He pleaded guilty in 1992 to official misconduct and was imprisoned for nine months.
- The first lawsuit, filed in 2013, claims the victim, identified only as W.M., was a 10-year-old boy who was repeatedly abused and raped at least once by a county employee in 1987 and '88, including while being transported by the employee to a county-run youth shelter in Oxford Township.
- The second suit, filed in 2015, has much of the same claims. That victim, identified as C.C., was 14 and 15 years old and under the county's care during four alleged assaults by the sheriff, the lawsuit says. The alleged assaults include Bullock giving the boy back rubs in his office, and fondling the teen during a transport to the county youth shelter.
- In 2015, Bullock was tried on criminal charges stemming from accusations in the first lawsuit. The jury, split over a lack of evidence, could not reach a verdict. Bullock died before the case could be retried.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Russo, who is representing the plaintiffs in the civil proceedings, said that the cases are being consolidated. The discovery phase was delayed by the now-concluded criminal proceedings and is ongoing.
Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.