KY lawyer denies claims of harassment, says any sexual acts with employees consensual
Two women who accused a Kentucky lawyer of sexually harassing them actually took part in consensual oral sex and other acts with him and never complained of alleged unwelcome advances when they worked for him, the lawyer said in a response to their lawsuit.
The response from Shane Romines said one of the women sent him explicit videos and photos of herself late at night engaging in sex acts.
The woman sent him a nude photo of herself about two weeks before she quit over his alleged harassment, Romines said in his response.
The women, one a legal assistant and the other a receptionist at Romines’ office in Corbin, claimed in a lawsuit filed last month that Romines frequently sent them explicit videos of himself masturbating, exposed himself and pushed them to perform oral sex on him at the office.
But in a response filed Tuesday, Romines vehemently denied sexually harassing the two women.
Rather, Romines said the women consensually exchanged explicit photos and memes with him, and that both willingly sent him photos of themselves and discussed their sex lives.
The two also consensually “engaged in touching and petting” with Romines, his response said.
The legal assistant often responded approvingly to the explicit videos Romines sent her, including by saying “That’s so hot,” his response said.
The Herald-Leader is not identifying the women because they’ve alleged being victims of sexual abuse.
Romines argued the legal assistant “eagerly” communicated with him via SnapChat, sending him 569 messages, videos and photos on the platform between April 20 and May 14, some of them explicit.
Sometimes when Romines didn’t respond right away on SnapChat, the woman texted his phone to demand an answer. On May 1, for instance, she texted “Answer snap. Bro. Answer. ANSWER YOUR SNAP,” according to the response.
When Romines texted back that he didn’t have a message from her on SnapChat, the legal assistant said he was a liar and texted “Getche [sic] billfold out,” the response said.
Romines said that at one point, the woman, who was dressed to go to a funeral, came into his office, sat down opposite him and spread her legs to show she wasn’t wearing panties.
Romines denied demanding oral sex from the women. Instead, the legal assistant used oral sex “as a means to get what she wanted from Romines,” his response alleged.
The woman offered sex in return for breast enhancement and a tummy tuck, and when he declined, she texted on April 24 to say, “Since no mommy makeover a phone is fine. Please.”
However, she insisted on a $1,500 iPhone instead of another model Romines mentioned, his response said.
When the woman remarried, Romines told her he assumed she wouldn’t want to continue a sexual relationship with him, but she said she wanted to continue and “did so consensually on the Tuesday after she returned from her honeymoon,” Romines claimed.
The other woman who sued Romines alleged that he demanded she send him explicit photos and be his sexual slave, calling is treatment of her “monstrous and inhuman.”
But Romines said the woman initiated the practice of sending him photos of her breasts, surprising him the first time.
And during the period she falsely claimed Romines demanded she be his slave to perform sexual acts in the office, the woman tagged Romines in a Facebook post with a heart emoji and a message about laughter being a sign of a positive workplace culture, he said.
In that same time, she sent Romines a message with a smiley face and heart suggesting he open his pool for her to bring her son to swim, his lawsuit response said.
Soon after, she said on Facebook that it was “a good day to be the frontline lady that takes calls” for Romines.
The response said that the two women didn’t realize until early May that they were each having a consensual relationship with Romines.
When they did, they “abruptly abandoned” their jobs and demanded a financial settlement for alleged harassment, Romines said.
Romines said that was the first indication he had that the women claimed they were subjected to unwelcome advances.
The two former employees are seeking an unspecified amount of money in their complaint. Romines’ response denied that he effectively fired them seeks dismissal of their lawsuit.
This story was originally published August 5, 2020 at 4:40 PM.
