Ex-FVSU cop offered gifts, trips and to make charges 'go away' for sex, lawsuit says
A Fort Valley State University campus police officer entered a student's dorm room uninvited and made sexual advances toward her, according to a lawsuit filed against the former cop.
He also offered her gifts and trips in exchange for sex and offered to make misdemeanor charges against the woman "go away," the lawsuit states.
The woman filed the lawsuit against Wilbur Gene Bryant on May 25 in Peach County Superior Court. The university and the state Board of Regents are also named in the lawsuit. The GBI is investigating.
Bryant, a lieutenant with the campus police at the time of the lawsuit's allegations, could not be reached for comment. The court file on Thursday did not include any record of an attorney for Bryant, said Joe Wilder, Superior Court clerk.
The lawsuit states that in February Bryant initially offered to make misdemeanor charges against the woman "go away if she stuck with him."
Bryant's advances escalated to offers of gifts and trips in exchange for sex in a March incident in which Bryant used a key he had access to as a campus police officer to let himself into the student's dormitory room, according to the lawsuit.
Once in the room, Bryant took the woman's foot against her will and sucked on her toes and rubbed his penis against the bottom of her foot in a grinding motion, the lawsuit states. He also allegedly tried to kiss her.
She "was in a state of shock, confusion and fear during the entirety of the exchange," the lawsuit states.
She was so afraid that she was unable to call for help or leave her room, according to the lawsuit.
Six days after the incident, Bryant called the woman — making sexually explicit references about her, offering to help her with her misdemeanor case in exchange for sexual favors and offering her gifts and trips, the lawsuit states.
According to the lawsuit, this isn't the first time Bryant has been accused of inappropriate behavior.
He was accused of sexual harassment in 2011. He was counseled for having an inappropriate friendship with an FVSU student and for causing damage to the student's property in that same year. And he was counseled for making inappropriate and off-color remarks toward a female coworker in 2013, the lawsuit states.
Bryant was also suspended for one day for unprofessional conduct in 2014 and required to take additional training "due to his insensitive interaction with coworkers," the lawsuit states.
In April, the woman suffered a severe anxiety attack and asked her mother to get her belongings at FVSU. The student made arrangements to take her final exams to complete the semester. She reported the sexual abuse and harassment through her attorney to the Peach County Sheriff's Office, according to the lawsuit.
The sheriff's office referred the case to the GBI, and the GBI investigation remains active, Peach County Sheriff Terry Deese said.
The trauma and emotional distress resulted in the student starting the process of transferring to another school, which will result in the loss of her scholarship at FVSU, the lawsuit states.
The woman is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, past and future medical expenses, litigation costs and a jury trial.
This story was originally published June 7, 2018 at 1:54 PM with the headline "Ex-FVSU cop offered gifts, trips and to make charges 'go away' for sex, lawsuit says."