Woman Claims Cop Groped Her During Raid, Asks for $600,000

By Evan Mix

Published on March 17, 2009

According to a lawsuit filed in Philadelphia this week, a police officer sexually assaulted Lady Gonzalez, a resident of Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood, during a drug raid targeting her husband in 2007. The officer, who went by the name "Tom," ordered Gonzalez into a back room, where he forced her to expose part of her buttocks and groped her bare breasts under the guise a search for drugs and weapons. The incident took place while several other officers were elsewhere in the house.

Gonzalez's suit seeks more than $600,000 from a total of nine officers, including two named "Thomas" and another named Jeffrey Cujdik, many of whom are currently embroiled in a separate scandal. Cujdik appeared recently in a series of newspaper articles exposing apparent misconduct in connection with his informants. He allegedly lied on search-warrant applications and is currently facing a federal inquiry into hundreds of criminal cases, including the Gonzalez incident.

Gonzalez reported the incident in 2007, but did not previously follow through because she feared retaliation from the Philadelphia Police Department. The officer in question allegedly confiscated her house key, promising to return sometime in the future.

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