New York volunteer firefighter accuses department head and co-worker of ‘brutally raping her’

A New York volunteer firefighter has claimed the former head of the department ‘filled her with alcohol’ and served her as a ‘birthday present’ for a high-ranking officer, before the two ‘violently raped’ her in a New York bathroom. fire station.

The fire medic who trained as a firefighter and EMT and chose to remain anonymous is suing former Wantagh Fire Department (WFD) chief Kenneth Kelly Jr, 51, and his Engine 7 captain Josef Seier, 28 years old, accusing the couple of physical and sexual abuse. assaulted her last year.

An ominous text message from Kelly that was filed as part of the lawsuit in Nassau County Supreme Court on Thursday read: “I had fun last night.” But remember, that’s just between you, Joe, and me forever.

The woman claims she reported the incident at the time and has now requested a jury trial and unspecified damages from Kelly, Seier and WFD, her attorney, Vesselin Mitev, calling the alleged attack “grotesque,” according to the daily beast.

“She’s had these extraordinary feelings of humiliation, shame, she can’t sleep,” Mitev said.

She was brutally assaulted by two people whom she considered friends, and not just colleagues, but her superiors. That has made her reconsider if she will ever be able to go back to doing what she loved to do the most, helping others.

The woman, who is in her 20s and works a day job as a medical assistant on Long Island, according to Mitev, “loved being a firefighter and loved being a part of what she thought was a unit.”

However, it is claimed that Kelly and Seier “considered her, literally, a disposable sexual vessel,” Mitev said.

Mitev added that his client has not been able to return to his volunteer position since the 2022 incident.

DailyMail.com contacted WFD officials, but they did not immediately respond on Friday. So far, no criminal charges have been filed against either of them.

The allegations against Kelly and Seier stem from the night of January 14, 2022, when the woman said she arrived at WFD station no. 4 around 9:30 p.m. for a gathering to celebrate Seier’s birthday, the lawsuit says.

When she got there, the woman claims that Kelly and Seier “immediately and continually overserved her with multiple alcoholic beverages.”

The lawsuit goes on to say that they both “encouraged” her to drink several different liquors, including Malibu rum and a spirit called “Black Death.”

The court filing goes on to allege that fire district officials had previously been warned that male firefighters in Wantagh preying on intoxicated female members was “an ongoing recurring problem”.

Kelly and Seier, who were the woman’s direct supervisors, allegedly had a premeditated plan to get her drunk and sexually assault her, according to the lawsuit.

Throughout the evening, as the woman sat at a bar in the firehouse company lounge, Seier allegedly kept his hand on her thigh and continually leaned into her, the lawsuit claims.

As the night progressed, Kelly allegedly began making lewd comments towards the woman and at approximately 2 a.m., the woman claims to have heard Kelly tell Seier that “she was going to get wet like a sponge.”

Kelly allegedly followed up on the comments by “shutting down the party and telling everyone to leave.”

It was then, according to the lawsuit, that she “began to realize that Defendants’ intentions were to sexually assault her in her intoxicated state, as she would not be able to consent to or fight his sexual advances.”

As the firehouse emptied, the woman claims she was alone at the firehouse bar with Kelly and Seier.

That’s when Seier allegedly “began to force himself” on the woman, “kissing her against her will.”

“Come on,” Seier kept repeating, trapping the woman between him and Kelly as she tried to leave, the lawsuit claims. According to social networks, both men have a partner.

As she struggled to escape, the men reportedly informed her that there were no security cameras in that part of the firehouse.

‘Do you want to see this big d***?’ Seier allegedly asked the woman.

“We know you like it,” the lawsuit says, Kelly said, “and then we remember [her] that it was Seier’s birthday and that she was going to be his ‘gift’ all while the [woman] I was caught between the two [Kelly and Seier] they were visibly sexually aroused.

The lawsuit claims that the woman began to lose consciousness and, after losing consciousness, came to in the bathroom of the firehouse.

With the door closed, Kelly and Seier removed the woman’s clothing before Kelly leaned her over the sink and raped her, “without protection and without her consent,” the lawsuit claims.

‘At the same time, the defendant Seier forced the [woman] to perform fellatio on her,” he continues, alleging that Seier also digitally penetrated the woman against her will.

The lawsuit goes on to say that Kelly eventually left, leaving Seier to continue the attack, suffocating the woman in the firehouse officer’s room, where he claims he raped her as well.

When the woman got home around 4 a.m., she said she received a text from Kelly, who she says pressured her to keep the attack quiet. The lawsuit states that this was “a clear admission” of what had happened.

Since then, he has continued to endure physical pain, as well as “severe psychological damage and depression,” according to the lawsuit.

“It’s grotesque, it’s barbaric, it’s insensitive, it’s just inconceivable,” Mitev told The Daily Beast.

“Then they tried to cover up the whole thing, saying that she didn’t report it right away, that’s what they tried to dance behind, and there was no attempt to resolve this.

‘We had to notify the WFD of [the] claim under the law for this municipality. They knew about this.

Mitev said the woman was absent indefinitely, after “inaction by WFD.”

In March of last year, he said he received a letter from the fire district attorney, who claimed the department had severed ties with Kelly and Seier.

The woman told Mitev that the couple “had agreed again.” [Fire Department] property weeks later, hanging out and joking as if nothing ever happened.’

“She knew it wasn’t safe anymore,” Mitev said.

Kelly’s name has been removed from the department’s listing on the WFD website, but Seier is still listed as the Engine 7 captain. Several photos on social media and the website archive, however, remain intact.

Seier’s father, John Seier, Jr., was also a member of the fire department. He passed away on March 6, 2021 almost a year before the alleged attack.

firenews.com said John had been a proud and enthusiastic member of the department since he joined in December 2004.

He was originally assigned to Engine 7, of which his son was captain and later transferred to the Fire Police in 2008.

Last year, a Utah assistant fire marshal was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to raping a female firefighter on his command.

Also last year, as the Daily Beast reported, a West Virginia firefighter was investigated by the FBI on allegations of raping an underage girl at his fire station, ultimately receiving a 14-year sentence.

In 2018, an Illinois fire captain was found guilty of drugging and raping a probationary employee and videotaped the brutal assault.

A few years before that, more than a dozen firefighters and FDNY officers were accused of gang-raping a civilian at a Bronx firehouse.

The woman said she is “keeping all options open” when considering filing criminal charges, her attorney, Mitev, said she brought the civil lawsuit “to vindicate not only her rights, but those of others who have sadly suffered similar fates at the hands of of sexual oppressors.’

“She really is someone who exemplifies the spirit of trying to help others,” Mitev said.

“It’s grotesquely unfortunate that this happened to her.”