CHARLESTON — A woman is suing the state government alleging she was wrongfully terminated after reporting wrongdoing at a military academy.
The West Virginia Military Authority and Christopher Cmeil were also named as defendants in the suit.
Tressia Cabell was a squad leader with the Mountaineer Challenge Academy South and during her employment, she always performed her duties in a satisfactory manner, according to a complaint filed in Kanawha Circuit Court.
Cabell claims her employment was involuntarily terminated in January 2021.
"During her employment with Defendants, Plaintiff began to observe repeated instances of inappropriate and unlawful conduct and instances of wrongdoing and waste by Defendant," the complaint states. "These incidents involved both physical and verbal harassment and abuse of at-risk youth who were members of the Mountaineer Challenge Academy, including youth members repeatedly being called 'little bitches' and 'punks,' requiring youth members to engage in extreme physical activity as punishment when they were injured and not physically able to engage in such physical activity, Defendants challenging youth members to fights, and Defendants (threatening) youth members that they will 'get their ass beat.'"
Cabell claims she reported the wrongdoing to the defendants, and after doing so, she was retaliated against for making the complaints.
The defendant began improperly accusing and disciplining the plaintiff for things she dod not do, changing her schedule to a less favorable one, micromanaging her, harassing her and generally treating her disrespectfully, according to the suit.
Cabell claims the defendants violated the West Virginia Whistleblower Claim.
Cabell is seeking compensatory damages. She is represented by Phillip Estep of Estep Entsminger Law Group in Charleson.
The case is assigned to Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number: 23-C-190