Lawrence M. Curtis Sr. is suing for alleged comments that slandered him.
FARMINGTON – A Strong man claims a former Franklin County deputy slandered his reputation in January 2002 and has filed a lawsuit against the deputy and the county.
Lawrence M. Curtis Sr. is asking for compensatory damages, punitive damages, interest and cost in his suit.
Curtis claims in the civil suit filed in Franklin County Superior Court that former Deputy Mark A. Cayer of Farmington, now a Rumford police officer and Farmington selectman, made statements to third parties on Jan. 15, 2002, at the Farmington Diner that Lawrence was a sex offender and a child molester, and that people should have nothing to do with him.
The suit also claims that Lawrence did not learn of the statement until the rumors it started were made known to him by third parties on May 17, 2003.
Cayer was formerly Franklin County Sheriff’s Department sexual assault/child abuse investigator who had arrested Curtis’ son, Lawrence Curtis Jr., known as Buster, in February 2001 on gross sexual assault of a boy.
Buster Curtis, who was 48 at the time, was sentenced in February 2002 on multiple sexual assault charges involving multiple victims, to serve seven years of three 18-year sentences in prison, plus several concurrent sentences.
Count I of Lawrence Curtis Sr.’s lawsuit claims defamation stating that Cayer made false and defamatory statements concerning Lawrence Sr. and that statements were published in an unprivileged setting to third parties.
It also states that the fault of Cayer amounts to at “least negligence” in making such publication.
The suit also claims that special harm was caused by the publication including impairment of reputation and standing in the community, personal humiliation, mental anguish and suffering.
The statement at the diner constitutes slander as it suggests or implies serious criminal sexual misconduct, Curtis’ attorney Scott Lynch wrote.
The second count of the suit claims that if Cayer made the statements with actual or implied malice, Lawrence is entitled to punitive damages.
Cayer and Lynch were unavailable for comment Friday.
Franklin County Sheriff Dennis Pike said the suit has been forwarded to the Maine County Commissioners’ Association Risk Pool, which represents Franklin County in such matters.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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