Erica Suskie "preyed on [a teenage boy] for her own sexual perversion," according to a lawsuit filed against the 44-year-old mother of two by the North Little Rock teen's parents, David and Tyra Rahbany.
Suskie's lawyers described the litigation as a money grab at the expense of the boy's health.
Attorney Jim Julian said Thursday that the issue should have been resolved in June when Suskie pleaded guilty to misdemeanor indecent exposure and agreed to register as a sex offender, serve a year on probation and pay a $2,500 fine.
The Rahbany family had asked for an "outrageous" settlement to keep from suing, the lawyer said.
"The Suskie family considered this legal matter adjudicated and done. Erica pleaded to a misdemeanor, is following the directive of the court and is focused on the future with her family," Julian said in a statement endorsed by Suskie's defense attorney Erin Cassinelli.
"Unfortunately, the Rahbanys are attempting to exploit the Suskies by making an outrageous demand of $3.3 million in lieu of a civil lawsuit. It appears the Rahbanys are more interested in cashing in than in the welfare of their son. It is time to move forward."
Prosecutors, after consulting with the boy's family, reduced the criminal charge against Suskie from first-degree sexual assault, a felony that carries up to 30 years in prison, to resolve the case at her first Pulaski Circuit Court appearance.
The plea required that Suskie admit she had exposed her breasts to the boy when he was 16 for her own sexual gratification.
The lawsuit filed Thursday is assigned to the same circuit judge who is overseeing her probation, Wendell Griffen.
The lawsuit says that Suskie deliberately gained the Rahbanys' trust to get close to the boy, then duped the unsophisticated teen into an emotional and physical relationship he was not ready for.
The teen's mother had confided in Suskie that the boy was gripped with depression that kept him from eating properly, sleeping well and socializing with his friends, struggles the family now attributes to what the woman was doing to him, according to the lawsuit.
But Suskie would not let him alone, the suit says, even approaching the teen at school, where she was a volunteer teacher, touching his buttocks and thighs when no one was looking.
"She not only performed physical sexual acts on [him], but she mentally and emotionally manipulated him into believing that she loved him and into believing that he loved her," the lawsuit states.
"Erica Suskie dominated and controlled [him] and used him for her own sexual perversion. [She] knew she was causing emotional distress ... knew her actions were wrong, but continued her sexual misconduct ... and continually cautioned [the teen] to keep their relationship a secret because it would be emotionally devastating to his mother ... if she were ever to find out."
The boy's parents told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Thursday that Suskie should be held accountable for the emotional and psychological anguish she's inflicted on their family.
They have been "scarred for life" and should be compensated for what Suskie has done them, the nine-page lawsuit states.
"Erica Suskie's guilty plea to a misdemeanor in her criminal case in no way exonerates her from civil liability, much less excuse her outrageous misconduct with our minor child," the parents said in a statement released to the newspaper by family attorney Jim Wyatt.
"Erica Suskie abused the trust that was placed in her by us, while pretending to be Tyra's best friend. While Erica Suskie may be focused on her future with her family, we must continue to endure emotional and psychological anguish as a result of her actions."
The lawsuit states that the Suskie and Rahbany families were friends in 2014, attending the same church with children who went to the same school together. They all socialized together regularly, including weekend trips to the Suskie lake house.
By January 2015, according to the suit, Suskie and Tyra Rahbany were "best friends," and Suskie called the Rahbanys' family and said Tyra Rahbany was like her sister.
The relationship between the women grew so close that Suskie came to refer to herself as a second mother to the Rahbany children, and while their father had to be away for months, would help take them to school, feed them and served as their primary emergency contact at school, with authorization to make decisions about their medical care and school matters, if their parents weren't available.
So when Suskie asked to have the teen tutor her son in math sometime around February 2015, the parents agreed.
The arrangement almost from the beginning, however, involved the teen tutoring Suskie so she could help her son with the subject, according to the lawsuit. The boy also ran errands for her, including trips to the grocery and picking up the Suskie children.
In April 2015, Suskie initiated sexual contact by kissing the boy on the mouth and holding hands with him. In the next month, the encounters that were supposed to be about tutoring were about more physical "make-outs," mutual nudity and intimate touching, according to the suit.
Sexual intercourse began in June 2015, and sexual contact included Suskie performing lap dances while they were naked together and her fondling the teen, the lawsuit states.
The last sexual contact between woman and teen was on Oct. 10, according to the lawsuit.
In one hour, Suskie went from fondling the boy to drinking beer at the Rahbany house. Within two hours of that beer, Suskie learned that the teen had told some of his friends what was happening and called the boy, "screaming" and demanding he come to her home, the suit states.
She hit him so hard in the face that he fell to the floor and made him call his friends and tell them he had lied, the lawsuit states.
She called the teen's father to her home, told the man in front of the boy that his son had been lying about her.
Later that same day, she showed up at the Rahbany home and told the teen that he was going to have to take the "fall" for her, telling him that he would have to go along with what she said or she would have to tell her children their mother was going to jail, the suit states.
David Rahbany, 52, is the chief U.S. deputy marshal for the Eastern District of Arkansas. His son is now 18.
Suskie was a volunteer substitute teacher at Catholic High School who has served on a legislative task force studying autism and worked as a legal instructor for the attorney general's office.
Her husband of 21 years is not a party to the suit. He is Paul Suskie, a former elected city attorney for North Little Rock, a former Democratic candidate for attorney general and a former chairman of the Arkansas Public Service Commission.
With compensation worth $545,612 annually, according to the latest public figures, Suskie is the third highest paid official at Southwest Power Pool.
Metro on 08/12/2016