A La Mesa woman has filed a lawsuit against her convicted rapist who met her on the Christian Mingle dating website and she also sued his mother for defamation.
Katie Kuhlman, 24, gave reporters her name at the sentencing of Sean Patrick Banks, 39, and permission to use it in stories. Banks is serving a sentence of 37 years to life at a Chino prison that was imposed Nov. 7, 2014 by El Cajon Superior Court Judge Daniel Goldstein.
A La Mesa woman has filed a lawsuit against her convicted rapist who met her on the Christian Mingle dating website and she also sued his mother for defamation.
Katie Kuhlman, 24, gave reporters her name at the sentencing of Sean Patrick Banks, 39, and permission to use it in stories. Banks is serving a sentence of 37 years to life at a Chino prison that was imposed Nov. 7, 2014 by El Cajon Superior Court Judge Daniel Goldstein.
The lawsuit seeks damages from Banks for rape and false imprisonment stemming from the Nov. 21, 2012 incident in her apartment. She sued his mother, Cheryl Banks, for defamation, saying that she accused the victim of lying about the assault in e-mail to the victim’s brother via Facebook.
No specific amount of damages was cited other than it would exceed $25,000 when her attorney, Daniel M. Gilleon, filed it Jan. 29 in San Diego Superior Court. Copies of the lawsuit were made public last week and the first court hearing is set for July 10.
“I see you are a Christian as am I…as is my son,” wrote Cheryl Banks to Kuhlman’s brother. “We pray every day that Katie will feel convicted by the Holy Spirit to tell the truth about what happened. I’m sorry to say, she has not.”
Cheryl Banks asserted that Kuhlman’s testimony “has sent an innocent man to prison” and asked her brother to talk to her sister about it. Cheryl Banks was reportedly out of town and could not be reached for comment.
“I haven’t seen that lawsuit so I can’t comment,” said Sean Banks’ attorney, Brian White, on Friday.
At his sentencing, Banks declared he would waive his appeal if Kuhlman could “pass a polygraph test.” With the lawsuit is documentation that she submitted to a lie detector test on Dec. 18, 2014, and the administrator wrote “no deception detected” on the results.
An eight woman, four man jury found Banks guilty of rape, digital penetration, burglary, and rape of an intoxicated person involving another woman in 2009 who only came forward after Kuhlman report to La Mesa police.
Another woman has also sued Banks who was matched to him on ChristianMingle.com, but never actually met him. Unlike Kuhlman, she also sued Spark Networks, Inc., a Delaware corporation which owns ChristianMingle.com., and alleges negligence, infliction of emotional distress, and claimed Banks stalked her over the phone.
Two plead guilty in El Cajon armed robbery case
Two San Diego men pleaded guilty Feb. 5 to four counts of armed robbery and grand theft involving victims in El Cajon and elsewhere on March 24-25, 2014.
Antwonne Darrell Hartfield, 24, faces a maximum sentence of 23 years in prison because he was previously convicted of robbery, said Deputy District Attorney Jim Koerber.
Jayvon Rolando Bailey, 20, faces 10 years in prison, although he could also be placed on probation with local jail time, said Koerber. El Cajon Superior Court Judge Laura Halgren set sentencing for March 10.
According to testimony in the May 21, 2014 preliminary hearing, a teen-ager was using her cell phone at Parkway Plaza when the men took it from her hands. Several hours later, two men were robbed of their wallets near the intersection of Main and Johnson at 1:40 a.m. in El Cajon.
Other victims lost wallets and a purse near San Diego State University and in Normal Heights. El Cajon Police in the 300 block of Richfield Ave. arrested the men and a juvenile, and the two men remain in jail.
