CHARLESTON – A man who claims he was wrongfully arrested and his daughter removed from his home is suing several state officials.
Karen Bowling, cabinet secretary; Nancy Exline, commissioner for the Bureau of Children & Families; Joe Bullington, Region IV director; Tammy Bailey; Casey Adkins, a child protective service worker; Col. Jay Smithers; and Sgt. M. Davita were all named as defendants in the suit.
On Feb. 8, 2013, the defendants maliciously and falsely remove C.D.G. from her home without good or probable caused based upon false allegations, which the defendants knew to be false at the time, and arrested Derek Glasser and falsely imprisoned him for 5.5 months all on charges that he abused and/or neglected his daughter and sexually molested her, all of which were false, according to a complaint filed Feb. 3 in Kanawha Circuit Court.
Glasser claims the defendants, after an investigation, knew or should have known that the rumors that led to the filing of the petition and charges against him were false, yet the defendants persisted in attacking him, destroying his family, imprisoning him and causing the minor to be sent back to Mexico, separated from her father since that time.
While Glasser was in jail, all of his personal property was vandalized or stolen and he was unable to pay his registration on his vehicle, but was required to move his vehicle by Child Protective Services in order to even attempt to get his daughter back, but then was charged with moving an un-registered vehicle and uninsured vehicle.
Glasser claims he suffered public humiliation, slander and libel from Davita's persistence in prosecuting him for the crimes alleged with which she charged him, which were false.
C.D.G. is half Hispanic and it was Glasser's proof of his half-Hispanic daughter's legitimate presence in West Virginia that locals found suspicious and caused an investigation to be launched, which the defendants knew or should have known violated Glasser's civil and constitutional rights because he was targeted because of the interracial nature of his family, according to the suit.
Glasser claims he was investigated, in part, because his daughter had all necessary documentation to be present in the United States and enrolled in school.
C.D.G. was targeted for investigation because of her race and a similarly situated Caucasian child with all the same appropriate documentation to register for school would not have been targeted, according to the suit.
Glasser claims despite repeated, knowing and coherent denials that she was in any way molested by Glasser or anyone else, C.D.G., on her sixth birthday, was subjected to a rape examination and the taking of a rape kit, subjecting the child to humiliation and unwarranted physical abuse.
The plaintiff and his daughter were illegally target also because of their religious beliefs and because they lived in a perceived Christian community development, according to the suit.
Glasser claims the defendants caused him and his daughter damages.
Glasser is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. He is representing himself.
The case is assigned to Circuit Judge Charles King.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 15-C-243