[CPProt.net] Transylvania librarian files suit in 2004 assault

[MSN CPPnet (Ton Cremers)]

Transylvania librarian files suit in 2004 assault

MEN USED STUN GUN ON HER IN ROBBERY

By Beth Musgrave And Cassondra Kirby

HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITERS


A Transylvania University librarian who was stunned, tied up and blindfolded
during a December 2004 robbery of rare books and art is suing the robbers
for damages.

Betty Jean Gooch, a special-collections librarian for the university, filed
a lawsuit yesterday in Fayette Circuit Court asking a judge to award damages
for physical, mental and emotional suffering, medical expenses and loss of
wages.

According to court documents and hearings, Warren C. Lipka and Eric Borsuk
went to the Transy special collections library on Dec. 17. Before stealing
pencil sketches by John James Audubon, a first edition of Charles Darwin's
On the Origin of Species, and two manuscripts from the 15th and 16th
centuries, the men used a stun gun on Gooch, tied her up and placed a knit
cap over her head and eyes so she couldn't see.

Charles T. Allen II drove the getaway car. Spencer W. Reinhard, who attended
Transylvania at the time, did not participate in the robbery but was in
contact with the other men by cell phone.

The men pleaded guilty in March to charges of robbery, conspiracy and theft
of major artwork and are scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 6 in federal court
in Lexington. All four were named in the civil lawsuit.

The suit says the men assaulted, battered and falsely imprisoned Gooch,
which has caused her emotional and physical distress.

"This has been a traumatic ordeal for her," Lee Roland, Gooch's attorney,
said yesterday. "These young men need to compensate their victim."

Roland said Gooch still works at the library.

Two of the men's lawyers said their clients were not surprised by Gooch's
legal action. Adele Brown, who represents Lipka, said her client believes
Gooch should be compensated for her ordeal.

"He is extremely remorseful for the pain he has caused," Brown said.

But Brown and Fred Peters, who represents Borsuk, said U.S. District Court
Judge Jennifer Coffman can also order that the men pay Gooch restitution as
part of the mens' sentence.

Both Lipka and Borsuk are working but have little or no money, their lawyers
said. It may take years for them to pay restitution to Gooch.

Lawyers for Allen and Reinhard could not be reached for comment.

The men, all 20-year-olds at the time, were arrested after they took the
stolen items to Christie's auction house in New York in late December. A
clerk there became suspicious, and the deal ultimately did not go through.

The stolen works were returned to the library after the men were arrested in
February.

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