Thread: Woman sues Everglades Club over 2006 rape; alleges discrimin

Thankfully, this young woman from MAine is blowing the lid on all the sleazy employment tactics of the "Everglades Club" in Palm Beach, FL. I think heads will roll.....she was raped by an illegal alien co-worker from Guatemala and was told to keep it quiet from her supervisors. Not bueno for them.

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Woman sues Everglades Club over 2006 rape; alleges discrimination, retaliation at Palm Beach venue

By MICHELE DARGAN
Daily News Staff Writer

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Jeffrey Langlois
(enlarge photo)
Melissa Legare and her attorney, Ted Babbitt, discuss reasons for filing a lawsuit against the Everglades Club at a news conference Wednesday.

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Rosters, rules and other previously secret information about the Everglades Club soon could become public in the wake of a lawsuit filed against the club Wednesday by a former employee who was raped there two years ago.

Melissa Legare, 22, a former pantry cook, awoke in the predawn hours of April 2, 2006, to a co-worker raping her in her dormitory room at the club.

Legare, then 20, fought off Esdras Cardona, an illegal resident from Guatemala, until he left the room and the police were called. Cardona, a dishwasher, was convicted of the rape last summer and is serving a 20-year sentence.

West Palm Beach attorney Ted Babbitt filed the lawsuit in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, alleging the club failed to supply adequate and heightened security, failed to support her after the crime and failed to properly check Cardona's background.

Describing the club as "a festering sore on Worth Avenue" at a news conference Wednesday, Babbitt cited the club's "long and well-known history of discrimination against non-whites, non-Christians and women" in the lawsuit.

"What kind of a place is this?" Babbitt asked. "This is a place which, I believe, means that a person like Barak Obama would not feel comfortable having lunch there. Tiger Woods would not feel comfortable playing golf there. Venus Williams could not play tennis. Henry Kissinger or a victim of the Holocaust would not be welcome as a member. Who would want to be a member of a club like this? I would be embarrassed, ashamed to be a member of a club like this."

In the days following the attack, club managers Scott Lesee and James Masterson made matters worse by telling Legare to get back to work, return to the same room where she had been attacked and keep quiet about the rape, she said.

"They told me, 'Are you aware that this is in two newspapers?' making me feel as though it was my fault their name was out there," said Legare, who has returned to live in her home state of Maine. "They made me feel horrible, that I brought this upon myself. It was very intense for me. I felt very intimidated by them."

Babbitt said club management sought to keep the incident — and the club's actions — quiet.

"They made it quite clear to her that she had signed a confidentiality agreement and that if she spoke to anyone about this incident, she would be terminated," he said. "It was quite clear to her, and it's quite clear to me, that the whole purpose was to prevent their activities — what I think is a dirty little secret — from coming out."

When reached by phone on Wednesday, Masterson said he needed clearance from the club's human resources department to comment. Multiple calls to the department were not returned. An unidentified woman at the club answered the phone, declined to comment and hung up.

Palm Beach resident Bill Pannill, president of the Everglades Club, said he didn't know a lawsuit had been filed against the club and couldn't comment on it. He also said he didn't know the name of the attorney who would handle the lawsuit.

"We don't have one attorney for the club," he said. "Different attorneys handle different things."

Legare spoke softly and tearfully. A few months before the attack, she had reported to management that Cardona and others were peeping in her window while she undressed, she said.

"I feel that this should have never happened to me, and I am speaking up today because I do not want this to happen to anyone else. I was treated unfairly. ... I feel the discrimination on premises led to the violence that caused my rape to occur."

The lawsuit alleges that Hispanic and other minority employees were not allowed to wear name tags and were collectively referred to as "amigos" rather than by their names, while white employees wore name tags and were referred to by name.

In addition, the lawsuit says employees were segregated in dormitories according to ethnicity: One building predominantly housed U.S. citizens, a second building predominantly Hispanics and a third predominantly Eastern Europeans.

"These discriminatory acts breed an atmosphere of hostility and violence, which make it far more likely that an employee like Esdras Cardona would commit a violent act such as rape," the lawsuit states.

With the lawsuit, Babbitt filed papers seeking production of all the club's rules, regulations and other information pertinent to its application process.

"Are there any Jewish members in the Everglades Club? Let them come forward," Babbitt said. "Are there any African-American members in the Everglades Club? Let them come forward. There aren't any, and there aren't any because this is accomplished with a wink and a nod. It's accomplished by simply excluding these people."

http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/ ... s0221.html

They need to go down hard for the last statement alone. Gee, that's bad and obvious.

Dixie

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She had warned the club that this guy was a peeping tom and they did nothing about it? The illegal perhaps thought spying and raping was accepted behaviour? Considering the club hired him and ignored her when she reported it, they have more serious problems than discrimination.

Every employer and individual who hires/harbors/aids/abets illegal aliens to stay, live or work here jeopardizes the safety, health and welfare of their families, their customers, their employees and the communities. I hope that immigration goes down hard on the EVerglades Club and this woman takes it to the fullest extent of the law. Many clubs like these have separate housing for the "amigos".....it's time that these places are exposed for the sleazy employment practices they use....while charging their members a fortune for the illusion of luxury and high standards. What hypocrisy.

Testimony: Lax checks led Everglades Club in Palm Beach to hire illegal worker who raped woman

By MICHELE DARGAN
Daily News Staff Writer

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Depositions in a rape lawsuit against the Everglades Club have shed light on some of the veiled practices of the exclusive club.

The club has been sued by former employee Melissa Legare, who was attacked by an illegal, undocumented club employee.

Testimony by club President William Pannill reveals a secret, stringent vetting policy for prospective members that contrasts starkly with a loose hiring process that allowed dozens of illegal workers with forged green cards — some with criminal backgrounds — to work for the club.

One of those undocumented workers, Esdras Cardona, raped Legare in the pre-dawn hours of April 2, 2006, after breaking into her dormitory room at the club.

Legare, then 20, fought off Cardona, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, until he left the room and police were called.

Cardona, a dishwasher, was convicted of the rape the following year and is serving a 20-year sentence.

Legare's attorney, Ted Babbitt of West Palm Beach, claims the club failed to supply adequate security, failed to support Legare after the crime and failed to properly check Cardona's background.

According to testimony from Pannill and Human Resources Director Tami Hubbard, the club was notified in the two years prior to Legare's rape that numerous employees — including Cardona — had Social Security numbers that didn't match their names.

Pannill said the club notified the employees to go to the Social Security office and straighten out the situation.

"The club knew that an illegal would never do that," Babbitt said.

"In my opinion, it's obvious they knowingly hired illegal aliens. It's either that or they're incompetent beyond imagination."

Two years before Cardona was hired, the club employed Jose Pedraza-Caban, who was living in employee housing when he was arrested on a warrant from Puerto Rico charging him with first-degree murder and a laundry list of other robbery charges and firearms violations.

Pannill said he doesn't know if there's a written policy regarding background checks on prospective employees, but he thinks they are done to varying degrees.

Babbitt asked Pannill if Pedraza-Caban's arrest should have been a warning to perform stringent background checks.

"I think we do try to find out," Pannill said.

"Yes, OK, we should have, and I wish we had, and I feel like we do try."

Everglades Club attorney Lyman Reynolds did not return several calls for comment and did not answer an e-mail.

Babbitt said his office conducted a simple check of Cardona's Social Security number and found that it belongs to a man in New York.

Hubbard testified that Cardona's employment application was left blank except for his name, address and Social Security number, which turned out to be false.

"There were no references, no prior jobs, no educational background, no history," Babbitt said.

"It's interesting if you compare his application to Ms. Legare's. Hers is complete: complete employment, complete educational history, references, a copy of her passport and all her prior addresses. They practically asked for her blood type.

"Compare that with Mr. Cardona. They know very well they can't get that information from an illegal alien."

Cardona, who worked two seasons at the club, returned for the 2005-06 season with a resident alien card that was not only forged but expired.

Hubbard testified that once a person works one season, human resources doesn't examine that person's file again in subsequent seasons, and thus did not notice the card was expired.

Hubbard also testified that she was not told of an incident that Legare said she reported to the head housekeeper of the club's dormitory.

Prior to the rape, Legare said Cardona and other Hispanic men were sitting on a wall outside her window and looking in while she was partially undressed.

"We certainly would have done an investigation and interviewed them with an interpreter," Hubbard said.

In his testimony about the voyeurism incident, Pannill said he doesn't think the men should have been fired and that he feels Legare was "at fault, too."

"It's not acceptable to do it. ... I think that they should be reprimanded and should not do it again, and I think she should be asked to not expose herself again," he said.

According to his deposition, Pannill admitted that past discriminatory policies at the club are "legendary" and that he has heard about social reprimands given to members for bringing Jewish guests to the club, but he insisted nothing like that has happened in the 12 years he's been president.

"I have many friends that are Jewish people that come to the club and they are welcome there, and there's no problem with it," Pannill testified.

"Now I say beforehand there were, but not in the past 12 years."

Pannill said there are no black members and he knows of one Jewish member: Town Councilman David Rosow, whose grandparents were of Jewish descent. However, Rosow attends St. Edward Catholic Church.

Pannill also confirmed that the vetting procedure for members is much more stringent than hiring policies for employees.

In his testimony, Pannill said prospective members must be sponsored by two members and must submit a preliminary form. The two sponsorship letters and the information form are submitted to a secret committee, the members of which are known only to Pannill.

The committee can refuse membership after receiving that information, and there is no appeal process.

"If somebody gets put up and I know — from knowing the reputation around town or something — that they are not going to get in, I try to go to the sponsor and explain it to them and say, 'This individual is not going to get in, so please don't put them up because we don't want to embarrass them or embarrass us,'" Pannill testified.

If the prospective member passes the initial vetting, they fill out a form with additional information that includes names of both spouses, birthplaces, occupations, the wife's maiden name and the names of the parents of both applicants and their birthplaces.

After that, their names are posted at the club three times, during which time members can take their concerns or objections to Pannill.

"If somebody says something bad about them we, number one, we look at who said it," Pannill said.

"We've got some people that every time they get a posting come in, they are against everybody ... but we don't listen to them. If we feel that it's a genuine complaint or allegation ... we do investigate it, talk to that individual, and then if it is legitimate, then that's the end of it."

Babbitt said the testimony clearly supports his case.

"In my opinion, there will be no doubt in the jury's mind that a club comprised of some of the richest people in America intentionally employed illegals at the expense of the security not only of the other employees but also of their members as well," he said.

"What happened to Melissa Legare is not only horrible and she has to live with it the rest of her life, but it so easily could have been prevented."

www.palmbeachdailynews.com

So, here we have a club that discriminates against Americans. Period. They discriminate against us for membership as well as employment. I hope this young woman owns that club when this is over. I bet she will hire Americans and do background checks, ss# checks and so forth.

They had no background information on this man at all and the information they did have was false, outdated and expired, but they required every shred of evidence about this young American woman's past to work there.

This is literally sickening.

Legare is about to get a fat check AND SHOULD.

warrant from Puerto Rico charging him with first-degree murder and a laundry list of other robbery charges and firearms violations.

Puerto Rico is a territory of the US and there is no reason they could not have checked this guys background. Not only that, Puerto Rico citizens are issued Social Security numbers and pay SS. This guy still had a fake number.

I'm not sure why all the descrimination issues are being brought up, since the crime and irresponsible and willing acts by the club are the reson the rape occured.

Dixie

Thank you for giving us the update to this story......well, well what do you know the scions of Palm Beach as profiteers of illegal immigration....shouldn't they be outraged that they have to go through a tedious, onerous vetting process to gain membership yet there is no vetting of any kind for their employees? They hire illegal aliens, fugitive, murderers to serve their members .....where's the local outrage? The management and H.R. staff should be prosecuted and of course, fired...if the club had any sense at all......

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