CHARLESTON – A Kanawha County man is suing Orders Construction Company after he claims he was sexually abused by an employee.
Donnie Sparks was also named as a defendant in the suit.
In the summer before high school, when Michael LeRose was approximately 14 years old, Sparks offered him a cigarette at St. Albans City Park while watching a baseball game and smoked several cigarettes with him while watching the game, according to a complaint filed May 19 in Kanawha Circuit Court.
LeRose claims Sparks also offered him a job and gave him his telephone number and LeRose told his parents that he had been offered a job later that day.
Sparks set up a meeting with LeRose and his parents and met with them to explain what LeRose’s job duties would entail and gave his parents a tour of the office as other employees worked, according to the suit.
LeRose claims after about two weeks of working, Sparks asked him if he was bisexual and approximately one week later, offered LeRose a Lortab and marijuana on the premises of Orders Construction.
Sparks got the minor under the influence of illicit substances and performed fellatio on him under forcible compulsion and in violation of West Virginia law, according to the suit.
LeRose claims he felt ashamed, great embarrassment and guilt after the incident and was also scared because Sparks told him he could get in a lot of trouble and that his family could get hurt if he told anyone.
The plaintiff did not tell anyone about the incident due to fear and Sparks continued to call him into work and provided him with money and drugs and the sexual abuse became consistent after the initial incident and occurred at the home of Sparks, the office at Orders and in vehicles, according to the suit.
LeRose claims Sparks sexually violated him more than 20 but less than 50 times in the office of Orders, once at his home and once at a storage building Orders owned.
Sparks always reminded LeRose to not tell anyone and he felt trapped and developed a problem with the use of drugs, according to the suit.
LeRose claims he kept silent until May 28, 2014, when he reported the matter to the police after seeking Sparks smoking a cigarette in from of Orders as he drove by the building.
Orders should have kept its premises safe and should have observed Sparks’ actions, according to the suit.
LeRose claims once he told the police, he began to fear for his family’s safety and has sustained severe and permanent injuries to his person, including extreme psychological trauma and was otherwise injured.
The plaintiff suffered a loss of parental consortium as a result of the sexual abuse he suffered from the age of 14 until the age of 17 and he had a strained relationship with his family, according to the suit.
LeRose is seeking compensatory and punitive damages with pre-judgment interest. He is being represented by Kevin P. Davis.
The case is assigned to Circuit Judge Charles King.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 16-C-761