A former New Jersey child protection worker allegedly used his position to coerce two mothers to have sex with him in an “offensive abuse” of authority, authorities said.
Lamont King, 40, of Trenton, is accused of using his onetime position as an assistant family services worker in the state’s Department of Children and Families to have sex with the women, whom he was responsible for transporting and whose court-ordered child visitation sessions he was responsible for supervising.
“With both of these women, King is alleged to have ruthlessly exploited a mother’s love for her children and his power over that emotionally charged relationship to coerce them into having sex with them,” state Attorney General Christopher Porrino said in a news release. “It’s hard to imagine a more offensive abuse of authority.”
Porrino said King had sexual relations with the women on multiple occasions, beginning late last year. Part of his role with the state agency was to write reports about interactions between the women and their children during court-ordered visits. One of the women reported that King told her he could make the visits go well and recommend that they be held at a park or restaurant instead of at state offices.
During one of the visits, King allegedly told the woman he wanted to have a sexual relationship with her after dropping her son off at a foster home and drove her to secluded area, where he kissed and groped her.
Porrino said the woman later told detectives she was angry but didn’t resist at the time because she thought authorities wouldn’t believe her and that King could affect her ability to regain custody of her son.
‘It’s hard to imagine a more offensive abuse of authority.’
- Christopher Porrino, New Jersey attorney general
King allegedly drove the woman during the next visit to a motel in Pennsylvania, where they had sex. Porrino said the woman told authorities she felt like she had to do what King wanted because he could negatively affect the visits with her son. The woman then canceled two additional scheduled visits with King and asked to be transported by a female family services worker before reporting the allegations in May.
A second woman told authorities King began complimenting her appearance in late 2015 as he drove her to a foster home to see her children. King told the woman he wrote the reports about the visits with her children and could ultimately get them to be unsupervised.
King then allegedly unbuckled his pants and told the woman to “stimulate him if she wanted unsupervised visits,” according to the news release. He then allegedly allowed her to have an unsupervised visit with her children at a mall.
King later demanded that the woman perform oral sex on him, which she did, believing that not complying with his request could negatively affect ongoing visits with her children. King allegedly demanded that the woman have sex with him in his car at a park in March after a visit with her children, but she refused after King allegedly removed her pants and underwear, according to Porrino.
King was arrested Friday and charged with sexual assault, official misconduct, bribery and tampering with public records or information. He now faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of second-degree sexual assault.
“King knew he had power over these two women by virtue of his state position, and we charge that he corruptly used that power to prey on them sexually,” said Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice. “We prosecute many cases of official misconduct, but few involve conduct as deplorable as what is alleged here.”
King’s attorney, Robin Lord, said her client rejected a pre-indictment plea deal that would have put him behind bars for just three months.
“The only person being exploited here is my client,” Lord told The Post. “He rejected a pre-indictment plea offer because he’s not guilty. We’re confident that when all is said and done, a jury will see through the nonsense.”