The mother of a 12-year-old girl claims her daughter continues to battle eating disorders and suicidal thoughts after she was subjected to years of sexual assault at the hands of her father. The girl’s father also posted inappropriate pictures of her online, according to recently filed court documents.
The mother, identified only as Mary Doe, filed a lawsuit Sept. 24 in St. Clair County Circuit Court against Richard K. Yohn.
Yohn was arrested by Belvidere, Ill. police in April 2010 and charged with 95 counts of aggravated child pornography and a weapons charge. In July 2012, he pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
In her complaint, Mary Doe alleges Yohn began to sexually assault and batter their daughter, identified as Jane Doe, beginning in 2006 when she was six years old. The abuse continued until March 2010, according to the complaint.
“During the course of the sexual assault and battery and abuse described above, defendant intentionally and maliciously threatened the plaintiff with great bodily harm, causing her to be in fear for her life, and further, inflicted injury on the plaintiff through intentional, malicious, unjustified, harmful, and offensive sexual contact without plaintiff’s consent,” the suit states.
Not only did Yohn sexually assault and abuse Jane Doe, but he also posed her for photographs, which he later placed online, the complaint says.
“Defendant made plaintiff undress, posed her in a sexual manner, and then photographed her; he thereafter publicly disclosed those photographs by distributing them on the Internet,” the suit states.
Because of the continued and repeated sexual assault, Jane Doe has suffered academically, endured depression and low self-esteem and is battling suicidal tendencies, the complaint says. Her mother claims she also has suffered physical and psychological trauma, experienced pain and suffering, endured severe mental anguish and lost her capacity to enjoy life. The abuse has caused Jane Doe to suffer emotional distress, has caused her to be unable to function normally in social situations, to fear physical contact, to be unable to trust others, to have difficulty in forming meaningful relationships, to fear intimacy and sexual contacts and to develop eating disorders, according to the complaint.
In an effort to treat her daughter’s psychological trauma, Mary Doe has incurred medical costs for psychological and psychiatric therapy, the suit states.
Mary Doe alleges intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress and invasion of privacy against Yohn.
In her complaint, Mary Doe seeks a judgment of more than $40 million, a protective order prohibiting Yohn from contacting or harassing Jane Doe, costs and other relief the court deems just.
Benjamin R. Schmickle, J. Joseph Kusmierczak and Matthew C. Morris of SWMK Law in St. Louis will be representing her.
St. Clair County Circuit Court case number: 13-L-495.
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