A A volunteer firefighter in suburban New York City claimed the department chief filled her with alcohol and served her as a “birthday present” to a high-ranking officer, after which both men violently raped her in a bathroom of the station.
“Had fun last night,” was the text she received the next morning from then-Wantagh Fire Department Chief Kenneth Kelly Jr. “But remember, that’s just between you, Joe and me forever.”
However, The fire medic, who is trained as a firefighter and EMT, is now suing Kelly, 51, and Captain Josef Seier, 28, of Wantagh FD Engine 7, accusing both of physically and sexually assaulting her. last year.
He requested a jury trial and unspecified damages from Kelly, Seier and the Wantagh Fire Department, according to a civil lawsuit obtained by The Daily Beast.
Vesselin Mitev, the woman’s lawyer, said Thursday that the “grotesque” attack has “ruined her life.”
“She’s had these extraordinary feelings of humiliation, shame, she can’t sleep,” Mitev told The Daily Beast.
“She was brutally attacked by two people whom she considered friends, and not just colleagues, but her superiors. That has made her reconsider if she will ever be able to go back to doing what she most enjoyed doing, helping others.”
The woman, who is in her 20s and works a day job as a medical assistant on Long Island, according to Mitev, “loved being a firefighter and loved being a part of what she thought was a unit.”
However, Kelly and Seier “considered her, literally, a disposable sexual vessel,” Mitev said, adding that his client has not been able to return to his volunteer position since the incident.
Reached by phone by The Daily Beast on Thursday, Kelly declined to comment on the allegations. Seier did not respond to voicemails and emails seeking comment. Wantagh FD officials did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday. No criminal charges have been filed against either man.
The allegations against Kelly and Seier stem from the night of January 14, 2022when the woman arrived at Wantagh FD Station 4 around 9:30 a.m. for a gathering to celebrate Seier’s birthday, according to the lawsuit, which was filed Thursday in Nassau County Supreme Court.
When he got there, Kelly and Seier “immediately and continually overserved him with multiple alcoholic beverages,” according to the lawsuit.
They both “encouraged” her to drink several different liquors, including Malibu rum and a cocktail called the “Black Death,” she says, and later alleged that fire district officers had previously been warned that male firefighters in Wantagh were preying on intoxicated female members. “a continuing recurring problem.”
Kelly and Seier, the woman’s direct supervisor, appeared to have a premeditated plan to get her drunk and sexually assault her, according to the lawsuit..
Throughout the evening, as the woman sat at a bar in the firehouse company lounge, Seier kept his hand on her thigh and continually leaned into her, the lawsuit claims.
As the night progressed, Kelly allegedly began making lewd comments to the woman.
At about 2 a.m., the woman says she heard Kelly tell Seier “that they were going to ‘sponge her off,’” followed by Kelly “shutting down the party and telling everyone to leave.”
That’s when, according to the lawsuit, she “began to realize that Defendants’ intentions were to sexually assault her in her intoxicated state, as she would not be able to consent to or fight his sexual advances.”
When the firehouse emptied, the woman found herself alone at the firehouse bar with Kelly and Seier, her lawsuit says.
That’s when Seier allegedly “began to force himself” on the woman, “kissing her against her will.”
“Come on,” Seier kept repeating, trapping the woman between him and Kelly as she tried to leave, according to the lawsuit.
As he struggled to escape, the men informed him that there were no security cameras in that part of the firehouse.
“Do you want to see this big pen…?” Seier allegedly asked the woman.
“We know you like her,” Kelly said, according to the lawsuit, “and then reminded (her) that it was… Seier’s birthday and that she was going to be his ‘gift’ while the (woman) was caught between ( Kelly and Seier) who were visibly sexually aroused.”
After losing consciousness, the woman came to in the firehouse bathroom, according to the lawsuit.
With the door locked, Kelly and Seier removed the woman’s clothing before Kelly leaned her over the sink and raped her, “without protection and without her consent,” the lawsuit continues.
“At the same time, defendant Seier forced the (woman) to perform fellatio on him,” he continues, alleging that Seier also digitally penetrated the woman against her will.
Kelly eventually vanished, leaving Seier to carry on the attack, suffocating the woman in the fire station officer’s room, where he claims he raped her as well.
When the woman got home around 4 a.m., she says she received a text from Kelly, who pressured her to hush up the attack. This was “a clear admission” of what had happened, the lawsuit says.
“It’s grotesque, it’s barbaric, it’s insensitive, it’s just inconceivable,” Mitev, the woman’s lawyer, told The Daily Beast. “And then they tried to cover up the whole thing, saying that she didn’t report it right away; that was what they tried to drive behind, and there was no attempt to resolve this. We had to give (the Wantagh Fire Department) a notice of claim under the law of this township. They knew about this.”
Mitev said the woman has gone on indefinite leave, prompted by inaction on the part of the Wantagh District Department. In March of last year, she said she received a letter from the fire district attorney who claimed the department had severed ties with Kelly and Seier.
However, the woman told Mitev that the assailants “returned to (Fire Department) property weeks later, hanging out and joking around like nothing happened.”
“She knew it wasn’t safe anymore,” Mitev said.
Kelly’s name was removed from a department listing on the Wantagh FD website; Seier is still listed as the captain of Engine 7.
The Wantagh fire medic is “keeping all options open” when considering filing criminal charges. Meanwhile, Mitev said he filed the civil lawsuit “to vindicate not only his rights, but those of others who have sadly suffered similar fates at the hands of sexual oppressors.” “She really is someone who exemplifies the spirit of trying to help others,” Mitev said, “and it’s grotesquely unfortunate that this happened to her!
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