Erica Suskie never had sexual intercourse with her teenage accuser, and his statements to police and others about what happened between them are lies, attorneys for the 44-year-old North Little Rock woman say in a lawsuit against the teen's parents.
"It simply never happened," is how Jim Barber, the lawyer for the married mother of two, responded to the accusations in the litigation Suskie has brought against David and Tyra Rahbany.
"Contrary to the allegations that [the boy] was a minor of tender years being preyed upon by defendant, [he] engaged in a pattern of conduct in which he actively sought to engage the defendant in a relationship, including sexual activity," Barber wrote.
Suskie's five-page defamation complaint comes in a countersuit to the Rahbanys' lawsuit filed against her more than three months ago.
Suskie, who was once a close friend of 47-year-old Tyra Rahbany, says that lies by the teen and his parents caused her to be arrested for a crime she did not commit, publicly embarrassed her and damaged her reputation.
In their response to her countersuit, the Rahbanys state that any injury Suskie has suffered is self-inflicted because she voluntarily pleaded guilty to a crime against their son that requires her to register as a sex offender.
"Any alleged harm to her reputation in the community is a direct result of her own actions," the response states.
The boy told police that he and Suskie had intercourse only once and that was at her parents' home, police reports show. He also said they regularly engaged in mutual acts of intimate contact up until Oct. 10, 2015, primarily at her home, when Suskie learned from a friend that the extent of the relationship with the boy was the subject of gossip among students at Catholic High School.
Suskie's arrest in February over accusations she had sexually assaulted the then-16-year-old boy over a seven-month period in 2015 caught the attention of the public because she had been a volunteer substitute teacher at the school where she had supervised the boy's class on occasion.
She was not a licensed teacher but had served on a legislative task force studying autism and worked as a legal instructor for the attorney general's office.
Her husband, 45-year-old Paul Suskie, is a well-known alumnus of Catholic High. He is an attorney who is now an executive at a nonprofit company that manages the electric power grid in 14 states. Paul Suskie had served as North Little Rock's elected city attorney, a gubernatorial-appointee to the Arkansas Public Service Commission and ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for attorney general.
The boy's father, David Rahbany, 52, is the chief deputy U.S. marshal for the Eastern District of Arkansas, which includes Little Rock, Pine Bluff and Jonesboro.
Erica Suskie was initially charged with first-degree sexual assault, a Class A felony that carries a maximum sentence of 30 years. The charge criminalizes intercourse between a child and any caretaker or adult in a "position of trust and authority" over the victim.
Suskie resolved the criminal charges at her first circuit court appearance in June by pleading guilty to indecent exposure, a misdemeanor, for exposing her breasts to the boy when he was 16 for her sexual gratification.
Her sentence was one year on probation, with the condition that she continue counseling. She also agreed to register as a sex offender and pay a $2,500 fine.
The terms of her sentence prevent her from having the conviction sealed, but she can petition the court to remove her from the registry after 15 years, if she stays out of trouble.
Prosecutors said the boy's family was consulted about the plea agreement. The Rahbanys sued two months later, on the day before the boy turned 18.
The Rahbanys' response to Suskie's accusations, filed by attorney Jim Wyatt late last week, calls for the countersuit to be dismissed because it's baseless.
The boy's accusations were investigated by three separate agencies: North Little Rock police, the Arkansas State Police Crimes against Children Division and Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley, each of whom found sufficient evidence to act.
North Little Rock police determined there was probable cause to make an arrest and the prosecutor, after reviewing those findings, found sufficient evidence to charge Suskie, according to the six-page pleading.
The Crimes against Children investigators made a "true finding" of sexual abuse that Suskie did not dispute, the filing states.
She further has no evidence that she's suffered damage because she voluntarily pleaded guilty to a crime that requires her to register as a sex offender.
"Thus, no one has caused harm or damages to [Suskie] other than herself by admitting her guilt, accepting a true finding of sexual abuse and registering as a sex offender," the filing states.
The Rahbanys argue further that Suskie's claims should be dismissed because they were not filed when they should have been under the state Rules of Civil Procedure.
In Suskie's version of events as described in her complaint, the couple's teenage son pursued her. She cites text messages from the boy sent when he was 17. He bragged to his friends about having sex with her and boasted about it on social media and through text messages, Suskie states in the response.
"Hahaha, it's not called sucking up. It's called seducing your teacher," one text message quoted in the pleadings states. "There's a difference. One requires not skill. The other required expert precision in the art of deception."
Her suit also quotes from other text messages that Suskie states show the teen "promoting [his] fame" on social media and using his cellphone.
One text Suskie describes as significant is a message sent to friends that she describes as proof the teen knew he was doing wrong, the suit states.
"Text messages to friends reveal that his lies about he and the defendant had gone too far when shortly before he gave his statement to the police department he texted, 'all of this blew up in my face way more than I anticipated.'"
Suskie also alleges the boy took photographs of her without her knowledge.
The parents accuse Suskie in their lawsuit of victimizing their son "for her own sexual perversion." She had been a "mother-figure" to the boy, the couple state in their lawsuit.
The litigation has been assigned to Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffin, who presided over the criminal case, after three other judges recused.
No hearings have been scheduled, although the sides are also quarrelling over what evidence each should have to disclose to the other to prepare for trial. Part of that issue is what private information, like medical, cellphone and computer records, must be disclosed.
Metro on 11/24/2016