Ex-Inmate Claims He Was Prison Counselor’s ‘Sex Slave’

Updated. A former inmate of a Michigan penitentiary claims in a lawsuit that he was treated as a “virtual sex slave” by a prison counselor with whom he fathered a child while he was serving a drug sentence and getting mental health treatment from her in 2014. Steven Moerman, who is suing the Michigan Department of Corrections and state officials, alleges his former counselor demanded “sexual gratification at her whim” while he was incarcerated at Parnall Correctional Facility near Jackson.

In the lawsuit, filed in September, Moerman said prison officials should have known what was going on. The lawsuit alleges another prison worker acted as a lookout for Susan Lee Clingerman, who was counseling Moneman for an unspecified mental illness, though an internal investigation does not support the collusion allegation, a Corrections Department spokesman said.

Filed by Okemos attorney Sterlin Mesadieu, the lawsuit alleges the “defendants failed to provide Mr. Moerman humane conditions of confinement by knowingly, voluntarily, recklessly, and with willful disregard to Mr. Moerman's personal safety, allowing him to be sexually assaulted and raped.”

Gov. Rick Snyder is among named defendants, along with current and former prison officials. Moerman, who is seeking unspecified damages, alleges, among other things, sexual assault, emotional distress and inadequate hiring, training and supervision.

Corrections Officer Timothy Hampton told Michigan State Police investigators that he caught Clingerman and Moerman having sex in her office in September 2014, according to police records filed as exhibits in the lawsuit.

Corrections Department spokesman Chris Gautz told the Detroit Free Press that Clingerman was fired in January 2015 at the conclusion of the state police investigation, after having been banned from the Parnall prison grounds since the September 2014 incident reported by Hampton. Gautz cited pending litigation and declined further comment, except to say the investigation didn’t indicate any other prison employee acted as a sentry during the clandestine meetings.

Clingerman, 44, of Mason, signed a statement included in court documents stating she had sex with Moerman, who also is 44, at least four times. “I am pregnant (with) his child,” she wrote in the statement, characterizing the bond between the two as a romantic relationship.

“I did not know I could be prosecuted for this,” the statement continued. “I knew I could get into trouble — including firing.”

Besides losing her job, Clingerman was charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct. Under federal Prison Rape Elimination Act — passed in 2003 after strong lobbying from a far-flung base of religious and human and civil rights groups — a prisoner can’t inherently consent to have sex with a prison employee because of balance of power issues.

Clingerman pleaded guilty to a felony count of misconduct in office — which meant she wasn't required to register as a sex offender — and was sentenced to 27 days in jail and placed on probation for 18 months.

In the lawsuit, Moerman, who is now on parole, alleges he was “intentionally targeted” by Clingerman, whom he said “began fertility treatment” because she was “desperately wishing to conceive a child.”

Clingerman previously filed a paternity suit against Moerman after a DNA test showed he was the father of her son, born in April 2015. Moerman wants shared custody of the child, his attorney said.

Clingerman denied the allegations in the lawsuit, telling the Detroit Free Press that she and Moerman have a “shared responsibility” for the relationship, but also said a seizure condition that left her feeling confused contributed to her involvement with the inmate.

She said Moerman's allegation that she used him as a sex slave was exaggerated and that she had neither begun fertility treatments nor been desperate to have a child.

“Mr. Moerman seems to be blowing this out of proportion,” she said.

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