CHARLESTON – The West Virginia State Police has been hit with 72 new lawsuits related to the hidden camera in the women's locker room and shower facilities at its academy in Institute.
The complaints were filed February 26 in Kanawha Circuit Court. In addition to the WVSP, some State Police employees also are named as defendants in the lawsuits. Most of the plaintiffs are identified only as Jane Does to protect them from retaliation, targeting, harassment, public outage and in fear of their safety.
Current and former WVSP employees named as defendants in the lawsuits are Joshua Eldridge, Robert Perry, James Lee and Joseph Comer as well as other currently unknown possible individuals.
Most of the six dozen lawsuits are directly related to the women – current and former law enforcement officers – being captured on hidden cameras in the female locker room and shower facilities at the WVSP academy. All West Virginia law enforcement officers must attend training at the facility during their career, not just State Police troopers, thus most of the plaintiffs visited the academy at various times for various reasons during their career.
Some of the plaintiffs also are civilian officials and administrators who worked for the WVSP and used the facilities, and some were filed by women who attended the Junior Trooper academy for aspiring law enforcement officer between the ages of 14 and 17 as minors. That program ended in 2020.
Some of the lawsuits include allegations of sexual assault and physical assault, and three others allege retaliation against male and female WVSP employees for reporting and investigating misconduct at the academy and involving Comer. See a separate story on those complaints.
“In what was initially started with anonymous letters about hidden camera(s) or video recording device(s) in the female locker facilities at the training academy has developed into the revelation of a subversive sub-culture operating within the West Virginia State Police that targets female law enforcement officers for sexual exploitation,” most of the complaints state. “Unfortunately, due to internal corruption, the destruction of evidence, and a conspiracy to cover-up the existence of any recording device in the female shower and locker facilities, the plaintiff may never know whether she was illegally recorded, who has viewed those recordings, and whether those recordings still exist. …
“The undersigned counsel will not release the plaintiff’s identity unless specifically ordered to do so by a court.”
The complaints say the plaintiffs were unlawfully, secretly and intentionally photographed, videoed and audio recorded while using the shower and locker room facilities.
“Defendants Joshua Eldridge, Robert Perry, James Lee, and Joseph Comer conspired to install, operate and/or secrete the existence of at least one hidden recording device in the female shower and locker room facilities at the training academy,” the complaints state. “The images and/or videos captured by the aforementioned hidden recording device were stored on external hard drives, thumb/USB drives and West Virginia State Police computers.”
The complaints also say the recordings have been viewed and shared with others.
At least one woman has been identified as being captured on the video recordings. She filed her Jane Doe complaint last June in Kanawha Circuit Court.
“The intent of the hidden recording device was to record women in nude or partially nude states without their consent and to exploit, discriminate, and invade the privacy of this plaintiff and other females,” the complaints state. “The defendants have destroyed evidence and/or have conspired to destroy evidence regarding the hidden camera(s) or video recording device(s) in the female shower and locker room facilities at the training academy.”
The complaints also detail how the cameras came to be known to the public through an anonymous letter sent to Gov. Jim Justice in August 2022 that was never revealed to the public. But a subsequent similar February 2023 letter sent to West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, state lawmakers and others.
The second letter said the WVSP conducted an internal investigation, but no one was disciplined and no one was informed they might have been recorded, according to the complaints. It also said the WVSP destroyed the evidence “to cover up the existence of the hidden recording device(s) and the video footage or photographs of the individuals depicted on such.”
The complaints say Eldridge is the individual who destroyed the thumb drive that contained the evidence.
In April 2023, Comer admitted he wrote the February letter.
“The February 2023 letter … was a ruse in a diversion to distract the public and any investigators from uncovering the true source of misconduct,” the complaints state. “Comer was aware that he was going to be exposed for his sexual exploitation of women at the Training Academy and published the February 2023 letter as a rouse and to divert attention away from himself.”
The complaints accuse the defendants of prohibited use of video and other electronic surveillance devices, invasion of privacy, nonconsensual disclosure of private intimate images, common law invasion of privacy intrusion upon seclusion, employment discrimination on the basis of sex, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, negligent hiring, negligent supervision, negligent retention, negligent failure to discipline, negligence per se, premises liability, spoliation of evidence, due process violations and civil conspiracy.
The complaints filed by women who attended the Junior Trooper program also include charges of sexual abuse and harassment of a minor; sexual abuse by a parent, guardian, custodian or person in a position of trust; parent, guardian, custodian or person in a position of trust allowing sexual abuse to be inflicted upon a child; displaying of sex organs by a parent, guardian, custodian or person in a position of trust; and distribution and exhibiting of material depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct prohibited.
Four of the complaints allege physical abuse during training and name Captain Harold R. Petry, the current commandant of the WVSP training academy as a defendant. Those women say they were subject to physical assaults during a multi-assailant training exercise known as Redman Training.
“The physical assaults the plaintiff endured were beyond any limit that could be acceptable as responsible police training,” the complaints state. “Petry would participate in the Redman Training, along with other individuals. As an instructor of several basic classes, defendant Petry would tell the women that the training would be harder on them because they, as women, had more to prove.
“The WVSP created an environment that is extremely hostile to women and subjects them to physical assaults in order to have the women ‘prove’ themselves in the eyes of the State Police.”
One of the women was beaten in the face by a WVSP trooper believed to be a Golden Gloves boxing champion, who was stationed at the academy because he was under investigation for use of excessive force during a traffic stop, according to the complaints.
“That trooper beat that female cadet until her face was black and blue,” the assault complaints state. “For a week after that assault occurred, that cadet was paraded around and ordered to stand at attention in front of the trooper’s desk so he could ‘admire his handy work.’”
Another female cadet claims she was held with her arms behind her body while she was beaten by an unknown trooper in the abdomen and chest, suffering broken ribs, while being called a “hoe” and a “whore” for several minutes, according to the complaints.
The complaints also detail one female cadet who avoided the attack of a trooper and instructor during his assault.
“The other instructors laughed at him and said that the female cadet ‘took his man card,’” the complaints state. “The emasculated instructor then body slammed her on the mat and punched her in the face repeatedly.”
The physical assault complaint also include charges of battery and civil conspiracy to commit battery.
One complaint also accuses Comer of the sexual assault of the female cadet.
“One night during her basic class, defendant Comer isolated the Plaintiff in an RV camper near the K-9 kennel building and forced her to perform oral sex on him,” that complaint states. “Plaintiff here, as a cadet going her training, was Comer’s subordinate. He had control over her on a day-to-day basis. He could prevent her from graduating. Therefore, the plaintiff could not consent to sex in this situation.”
That complaint says the WVSP “has fostered an environment that permits instructors to feel entitled to prey upon female cadets to fulfill their graphic sexual desires.”
“(Comer) had power over all of them and could force them to submit to his desires, if not through physical force, then through the power he held over them as cadets,” the complaint states. “West Virginia State Police has failed to prohibit its instructors at the training academy, including defendant Comer, from targeting female cadets for sex and failed to stop its instructors from having sexual relations with the female cadets.”
That complaint also says Comer’s WVSP-issued laptop contained an “extensive” amount of sexually explicit material, including videos and pictures of women performing sexual acts on men at the WVSP training academy.
“The sexual acts took place at the training academy because the flooring in the photos in videos was identified as the same flooring used within the academy,” the complaint states. “Comer’s laptop depicted a hidden room, located off one of offices for an instructor at the training academy, that contained a black couch. …
“Comer’s computer contained numerous photos and videos of individuals believed to be instructors having sex with female cadets in that hidden room. … Comer’s laptop also contained surreptitious video and audio recordings of individuals, including women, at various locations within the training academy. Based on information and belief, those recordings were likely taken by a cell phone.”
The complaint says the Federal Bureau of Investigation has a copy of the contents of Comer’s laptop. It also says the WVSP “has not conducted any investigation into the contents of the contents of defendant Comer’s laptop.”
That complaint also includes charges of sexual assault, sexual battery and civil conspiracy to commit battery.
The plaintiffs seek compensatory damages for mental suffering and mental anguish, past and future lost enjoyment of life, past and future humiliation, embarrassment, indignity, shame and economic damages. The also seek interest, court costs, attorney fees and other relief.
The plaintiffs are being represented by Toriseva and Josh Miller of Toriseva Law in Wheeling, by Kelly Reed and Traci Cook of The Law Offices of Kelly C. Reed in Morgantown and by Bryan Edwards of Cranston & Edwards in Morgantown.
Earlier this month, a current Kanawha County Sheriff’s Deputy filed a lawsuit over the hidden cameras.