A man from Santa Fe has filed a lawsuit after his son was molested in the showers at a local public rec center.
Eric Knee, 71, was convicted on two charges of criminal sexual contact with a minor under the age of 13. He is currently in the Santa Fe County jail awaiting sentencing.
The father of the boy who was molested is now suing the Fort Marcy Recreation Center, Santa Fe city government and unnamed Santa Fe city employees. The man alleges that the city workers should have known that Knee posed a threat to children, as Knee was involved in a similar incident at a local pool just four years earlier.
According to the suit, as reported by the Albuquerque Journal, the man’s son, referred to as NR in the document, and another boy used the pool for about two hours at Fort Marcy in 2015. The boys then used the shower in the men’s locker room. Knee, who was also in the shower, improperly touched both boys and asked them to touch him.
Knee was banned form the Salvador Perez Pool after someone reported him to a pool employee, but the suit claims that no report was made to a supervisor, the City of Santa Fe or law enforcement. “In addition,” the suit claims, “it appears that employees of the City of Santa Fe failed to take reasonable and necessary steps to notify a supervisor of Knee’s dangerousness…to protect NR and other minors from Eric Knee, who continued to frequent pool facilities, owned and operated by the City of Santa Fe, and have continued contact with minor children between 2011 and 2015.”
Knee was also indicted for perjury for lying under oath during his first trial in November 2016. City government spokesman Matt Ross said the city can’t comment on pending litigation.
