ROCKLAND, Maine — The former operator of the region’s only homeless shelter has countersued a woman who accused him in a lawsuit filed six months ago of offering her housing for sex.
Attorney Steven Peterson, who represents Gordon Mank Jr., said Tuesday that his client acknowledges he had sex with the woman but that it was consensual and had no connection with her receiving housing or related services.
The lawsuit filed in May by the woman was dismissed Nov. 4 by Justice Daniel Billings in Knox County Unified Court because she and her attorney had thus far failed to have Mank served with a summons to formally notify him of the legal action being taken.
Attorney Sarah Churchill, who represents the woman, had argued against dismissal, saying that Mank’s job requires him to travel and that he was not always readily available to be served. Churchill stated in court papers that she had asked Peterson to accept service on behalf of his client but that she received no word back on that request.
Peterson instead filed a motion on Sept. 23 to have the lawsuit dismissed because his client had not been served a summons in the case in a timely fashion. Summonses are generally required to be filed within 90 days of the suit being filed in court.
The woman’s lawsuit can be refiled, however, and Peterson said Tuesday that Churchill had told him she planned to do so.
A telephone message left with Churchill Tuesday morning was not immediately returned.
The Bangor Daily News is not naming the woman involved in the case because she may be the victim of sexual misconduct.
Peterson filed a counter lawsuit Tuesday accusing the woman of defamation of character, malicious prosecution, and intentional infliction of emotional damages against Mank. The suit states the woman made her allegations in an effort to profit financially.
The woman claimed in her lawsuit that she and her four children were homeless in October 2010 when she contacted Hospitality House in hopes of getting temporary housing. She said Mank, who ran the shelter at the time, told her the Hospitality House was full but that he could make room for her.
Mank denies those allegations, including even that the woman was homeless.
They arranged to meet in Warren to fill out paperwork, according to her lawsuit, at which time she says a sexual encounter occurred. This was the first in a series of encounters in which Mank would contact her, bring her gifts and promise to help her with different housing and assistance programs in exchange for having sex with him, her suit stated.
Finally, her suit said she agreed to meet with him for an encounter in December 2010 at a motel in Belfast. She said she asked him about program paperwork he promised to bring to her, her suit claimed, and when he said he did not have it, she began crying and screaming and demanded he leave, which he did.
The woman said she has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder because of his actions and is receiving psychological treatment.
The homeless shelter operated by Mank closed in November 2012 and reopened a little more than a year later under new management. The Hospitality House now is operated by the Knox County Homeless Coalition.
Stephanie Primm, executive director of the Hospitality House, said in May that the former Hospitality House and current one have no connection because it now is operated by the Knox County Homeless Coalition with new board members.