NJ Firefighter Accuses Academy Instructor of Rape

An instructor at a New Jersey fire academy is accused of torturing and raping a 26-year-old volunteer firefighter last year, according to a federal lawsuit.

The civil complaint against John Syers Jr., who teaches at the Ocean County Fire Academy in Waretown, was filed Friday in U.S. District Court, the Asbury Park Press reports. Syers also is an Elizabeth firefighter.

According to the 156-page lawsuit, the alleged attack happened Sept. 26. That's when Syers allegedly invited the woman— she is identified only by her initials in the lawsuit—to his new house in Lacey Township. He was giving the woman a tour of the residence when he's accused of attacking her.

“While Syers was showing (her) his bedroom, he proceeded to restrain, beat, burn, sexually assault and strangle (her) over the course of 46 minutes, despite her continuous pleas for him to stop,” Robert R. Fuggi Jr., the lawyer for the woman, said in a statement to NJ.com.

Along with the lawsuit in federal court, Syers also faces criminal charges in municipal court, according to the Press. He was charged with lewdness and simple assault stemming from an incident that happened the same day as the alleged attack, the publication added.

By Oct. 3, the woman reported the attack to Lacey Township police and spoke with investigators from the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, the lawsuit states. In January, authorities told the woman that her case was still under investigation, the Press reports.

Ocean County Fire Academy, as well as Ocean County Fire and First Aid Training Center and Ocean County Board of Chosen Freeholders, which runs the academy, also are defendants in the complaint. The lawsuit claims that academy officials did not adequately vet Syers during the hiring process and did not have proper practices and policies in place to deal with sexual assault reports, according to the Press.

In his role at the academy, Syers was a volunteer instructor and not an Ocean County government employee, Freeholder Jack Kelly, director of law and public safety, told the Press. He's currently suspended from the academy.

The woman began firefighting training at the academy after she escaped a fire at her Lavallette condo in 2017,