A Maine Department of Health and Human Services (Maine DHHS) caseworker allegedly used her position to extort sex from a father trying to reunite with his children, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
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The 35-page lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Portland, alleges that Maine DHHS caseworker Morgan Polky used her position helping father Kerry Ross regain custody of his children to coerce the man into sex and to send her nude photos.
Polky allegedly used her position to put Ross into situations in which he feared she would sexually assault him, and Ross felt he had to have sex with the state caseworker in order to be reunited with his children, the lawsuit states.
DHHS took protective custody of Ross’ children in December 2017, after he was sentenced to six months in jail on a misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of a child, which he was charged with after his 3-year-old daughter was found wandering naked along Route 4 in Livermore.
He also received a two-year sentence for possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.
Ross entered an Alford plea to the two charges, meaning he did not contest the charges, but did not make an admission of guilt.
Polky was assigned to be Ross’ caseworker to assist him in achieving reunification with his children.
While all communications between a DHHS caseworker and a family are supposed to be documented in an automated child welfare system, Ross alleges that Polky did not document thousands of text messages, drug tests, and other contact, according to the lawsuit.
The text messages from Polky to Ross allegedly escalated over time to Polky discussing her personal life, explicit texts describing sex dreams she had about Ross, and sending nude pictures of herself, the lawsuit claims.
The complaint also alleges Polky modified Ross’ visitation schedule without oversight from a supervisor to help him in his custody case, and that Polky told Ross he didn’t need to take a drug test because she would take care of it — which Ross understood to mean that the caseworker would submit negative drug tests and they would spend that time together, according to the suit.
The lawsuit describes an alleged Feb. 20, 2018 incident in which Polky, after picking Ross up for a drug test, is accused of telling Ross she wanted to have sex with him and touching his genitals over his clothes while in the vehicle.
Ross rejected Polky, which resulted in a conversation about her expectation of sex, the lawsuit said.
On Feb. 26, when Polky picked up Ross for another drug test, she allegedly initiated sexual contact with Ross, and Ross participated as he thought it necessary in order to continue receiving favorable treatment in his custody case, the suit claims.
“Kerry would not have engaged in any sexually explicit conversations, the sharing of sexually explicit photos nor engaged in sexual activity with Polky had he not been afraid of the negative consequences that Polky could inflict on his reunification efforts with his children,” the complaint states.
Ross is also suing Polky’s supervisor, Tracy Clark, and DHHS, with the lawsuit claiming Clark and DHHS are liable for the caseworker’s actions because they did not respond to concerns about a lack of documentation in the case, leading to Clark not seeing the text messages between Polky and Ross.
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Polky’s employment as a caseworker with the Maine DHHS Office of Child and Family Services ended by April 2018, and her social work license was revoked for sexual misconduct, according to a 2019 consent agreement in which Polky admitted to sending an unnamed client text messages containing “sexually explicit language and sexually explicit photographs.”
Ross, who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress following Polky’s alleged actions, is seeking for a judge to award unspecified damages.
“I think if genders were switched, there might have been a more immediate and dramatic response,” Ross’ attorney Kristine Hanly told the Bangor Daily News, who revealed Ross’ identity with his permission.
Since leaving her job at Maine DHHS, it appears as though Polky was working at the Winthrop-based Sexual Assault & Crisis Support Center as a Rural Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) Advocate, according to an archived copy of the organization’s website from Dec. 7, 2023.
Another archived version of the site shows Morgan Polky listed as a staff member of the organization as early as Feb. 22, 2020.
“The Sexual Assault Crisis & Support Center’s mission is to lessen the trauma-related suffering of sexual assault and promote healing by guiding those affected by sexual violence toward survival through SUPPORT, ADVOCACY, EDUCATION, and COMMUNITY collaboration [emphasis original],” the organization states on their website.
Polky’s name appears to have since been removed from the organization’s list of staff members as of Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024.
In response to a request for comment from the Maine Wire, Sexual Assault Crisis & Support Center Executive Director Donna Strickler said in an email statement Thursday that Polky is no longer employed at the organization.
“Ms. Polky is no longer employed by the Sexual Assault Crisis & Support Center,” Strickler wrote.
“At the time of hire all employees, as well as volunteers must pass a full background check, including DHHS, FBI Fingerprinting and State,” Strickler added. “With regard to a social workers license, it is irrelevant and we do not inquire about it.”
Wow! So one of Maine’s finest employees uses her position to solicit sex from a guy who has has lost the custody of his children, spent time in jail on that charge and was found guilty of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person?
One thing for sure Ms Polky has very poor taste when it comes to choosing sex partners. One would need to see her photo in order to get some idea why she had trouble appealing to a decent man thus had to go after this loser. One can bet that she is still a state employee though. The would have to murder someone to be fired.