A teenager filed a lawsuit on 7 July 2020, in Kanawha Circuit Court against a Child Protective Services worker, Dustin Kinser, who allegedly abduct her from her home and in the days following, forced her to use drugs and raped her. The lawsuit is also against the
West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, Bureau for Children and Families, Child Protective Services and Capitol Hotels Inc. trading as Knights Inn.
It was refiled this year to include
an affidavit in the complaint. The affidavit of a woman Debora Pigman, who has worked for 28 years at CPS backed up the claims of the girl.
This is what allegedly happened to a 16 year old girl from Lincoln County only identified as A.R. She was groomed by Dustin Kinser, and he convinced her to leave her troubled home with him.
Dustin Kinser
There's nothing worse than a person who pretends to be harmless and kind, but inwardly he is deceitful and full of evil.
Grooming is when someone builds a relationship, trust and emotional connection with a child or young person, so they can manipulate, exploit and abuse them. Children and young people who are groomed can be sexually abused, exploited or trafficked. Anybody can be a groomer, no matter their age, gender or race.
A.R. are represented by diTrapano and Benjamin D. Adams of Calwell Luce diTrapano in Charleston and William C. Forbes and W. Jesse Forbes of Forbes Law Offices in Charleston. Judge Kenneth Ballard been assigned to the case.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 20-C-571
“Our 16-year-old client was kidnapped, raped and forced to use drugs by the very state agency that she turned to for help,” A.R.’s attorney L. Dante diTrapano told The West Virginia Record at the time of the original filing. “The facts of this case are outrageous, and the exploitation of this child is deplorable.”
Everything started on July 7, 2018, when she contacted him and complained about her neglectful home. Dustin Kinser used the Department of Health and Human Resources, (DHHR) database system to obtained relevant information about her CPS (Child Protection Services) history, which he then used to groom and shape his relationship with her. He then convinced her to abscond from what she reported to him as a neglectful home to run away with him, under the pretense that it's for her own safety. But in the meanwhile he used his position as a CPS worker to unlawfully abduct A.R. from her home, forced her to use illegal drugs and sexually assault and abuse her.
CPS workers are supposed to keep kids safe from abuse, be an example, and keep them from using drugs. Dustin Kinser did the exact opposite.
The complaint says that Kinser disguised his true intentions and offered to assist the girl. He failed to make any report or open any official CPS case regarding A.R. These reports were mandatory for a CPS reporter. There was no investigation into in her home circumstances, but a decision was made by him to proceeded to abduct the girl.
A.R. says that Kinser first took her to the Knights Inn hotel in Kanawha City where he supplied her with alcohol. He forced her to use illegal drugs and sexually abuse and assault her.
“The Knights Inn has a history and pattern of conduct in which they provide low cost rooms that are often used for illegal activity,”
The complaint says that Kinser also took A.R. to several residences where he used illicit drugs, injured and abused her. He also took her on CPS business while he used illicit drugs, including methamphetamine.
The complaint also says that Kinser smoked meth in a CPS vehicle with A.R. There was another time he conducted a home visit while he was high on meth with A.R.
Kinser was suspended by the DHHR in July 2018. In that same month, Dustin Kinser was arrested on charges of domestic assault after a dispute with his mother and days earlier, he has been charged with threatening members of the South Charleston Police Department.
Deborah Pigman, former CPS worker, in her affidavit stated that:
“It was common knowledge in the Kanawha County CPS office that Dustin Kinser was on drugs,” Pigman says in her affidavit. “There was always suspicion that he was using drugs prior to the time he was fired and during the time he was a worker in the office. Mr. Kinser had what appeared to be meth sores on his face at times during his employment with CPS, and he displayed erratic behavior.
“People in the office including his supervisors knew this, but they allowed him to continue working with children anyway. I would see him during my employment and there was general office gossip about him, his suspected drug use and inappropriate behavior. I don’t understand why nothing was done before he took that minor child.”
She said that other worker's complained by their supervisors about his drug use at work, but nothing was done.
A.R. seeks compensatory damages for physical, and psychological injuries, pain and suffering, mental anguish, emotional distress, medical expenses, loss of future earning capacity, attorney fees, court costs, other expenses, other damages and other relief. She also seeks punitive damages.
The complaint also says A.R. has required or will require secondary and vocational education and training or other levels of higher education, physical examination and treatment, psychiatric and psychological therapy and counseling, medical therapy and counseling, loss or diminishment of earning capacity, loss of ability to enjoy life, impairment of earning capacity and other damages.
I really hope and pray that there will be justice for A.R. That a strong message will be send to CPS abusers and society that they can't get away with the abuse of children in the system.
I will keep you updated with this story.
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@familyprotection now on Hive by writing under the tag of @familyprotection, which @canadian-coconut and @markwhittam are the founders and custodians of.
Thanks for reading and your support.
@Scotty777
Sources:
https://wvrecord.com/stories/617955310-affidavit-in-teen-cps-kidnapping-and-rape-case-backs-up-many-allegations
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-is-child-abuse/types-of-abuse/grooming/
https://www.wsaz.com/content/news/Troopers-CPS-employee-charged-in-connection-to-missing-teen-488335541.html