Judge sexually assaulted court employee for 5 years: lawsuit

The alleged victim says she has the stained dress to prove it.

A Texas judge sexually assaulted a court manager for five years and tried to fire her after she turned him down a last time, according to a federal lawsuit.

Tarrant County Justice of the Peace Russ Casey forced his employee, Martha Kibler, to perform oral sex on him — sometimes as he wore his judicial robe — at least 20 times between 2009 and 2014, the lawsuit claimed.

Casey coerced Kibler by threatening to fire her or reminding her he had loaned her money to repair her car, the lawsuit said.

Casey told CBS 11 News that the lawsuit "is without merit."

Kibler's attorney declined to discuss whether her client had gone to police with the allegations.

The alleged abuse first began when Kibler went to Casey's office to repay the loan after working for him for three years, the suit said.

"Judge Casey informed Kibler that he was not interested in her money and instead he grabbed his penis and told Kibler to perform oral sex," the lawsuit said.

"After Kibler said 'no' and that she could not do that for Judge Casey, Judge Casey responded that he was good to her, had loaned her money and kept her employed and thus she had better return the favor. Kibler complied and performed oral sex on Judge Casey."

Kibler, who worked for the county for 22 years, said she felt coerced into the sexual acts, which twice included intercourse, because Casey made it clear he could fire her.

The abuse continued even after Kibler begged Casey to stop in December 2013 because her only son had died and "she felt like her son was watching from heaven," the lawsuit alleged.


Tarrant County Justice Of The Peace Sued For Sexual Harassment
CBS Dallas-Fort Worth



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Kibler claims she sought help from the human resources department twice but was told HR couldn't do anything because Casey is an elected official.

She provided the department with a semen-stained dress and blouse to show the alleged wrongdoing.

In August 2014, Kibler refused Casey's twisted demands and he fired her a week later after claiming she had stolen from him, the suit said.

When Kibler approached HR about why she believed she was fired, the county placed her on paid leave and said it would investigate her claims but never did, the lawsuit said.

An audit of Casey's office conducted in November found that money was not always deposited into Casey's account in a timely manner and that financial information was not always properly recorded, NBC Dallas Fort-Worth reported.

"It appears that the employee was making a series of personal loans from the cash deposits by failing to actually deposit the money daily," Casey said in a response to the audit without naming the employee.

Kibler's attorney said her client was accused of stealing only after she brought up the sexual harassment, and she did not know about the allegations until after she mentioned the abuse.

The attorney permitted the media to name her client, even though sexual assault victims are usually protected from being identified publicly.