Former student suing District 301, says school cop sexually harassed him

A former Burlington Central High School student is suing the school district, alleging that it is responsible for letting a female Kane County sheriff's deputy stationed at the school sexually harass him.

Bryan Cynova alleges in the suit that Deputy Krysta Kaus, 33, committed battery against him and made the educational environment uncomfortable due to sexual harassment, while he was a junior and senior.

No criminal charges have been filed, and the deputy has been transferred while county officials investigate.

From the time she met him at a volleyball game at the beginning of his junior year in 2012 and continuing to his freshman year at college in Iowa, Cynova alleges that Kaus repeatedly texted him, pulled him out of class, attended his baseball games, and showed up at a party he attended. She talked with him, sometimes for hours, about their relationship, her previous relationships and other personal matters. She sent him more than 8,000 text messages, according to the suit.

Nightmares

Cynova says Kaus would send him text messages even when he asked her not to do so. He also contends she tried to influence him to have an inappropriate sexual relationship with her. She told him she would miss him during the summer break between his junior and senior years and suggested that they stay in contact but use fake names when they texted, and that he sign up for a ride-along patrol shift with her, he says.

The lawsuit also alleges she sought him out at a friend's graduation party and talked to him for several hours, while she drank alcohol. She told him not to tell anyone else about their relationship because she would lose her job. She invited him to visit her at her parents' vacation house at Lake Carroll and invited him to her home in Sycamore, he says.

At the visits to her home, she hugged him and rubbed his chest, stomach and back, Cynova says, but the two did not become intimate. For that, the suit says, she admired his resolve.

Cynova also alleges that Kaus revealed details of an investigation she was conducting involving a Central teacher accused of sexually abusing a student. She also revealed numerous details of her own work and dating life, the suit says.

Her unwanted attention caused stress that hampered his recovery from a concussion in spring 2014, Cynova says in the suit. He also had nightmares, couldn't sleep, suffered stomach pain and would vomit due to the stress. It affected his ability to concentrate on his education, according to the suit, especially when Kaus came in to his Spanish-language class final and said she had to "talk to him." He couldn't concentrate on the test and received a grade of D.

Cynova also alleges that school Principal Matthew Haug, Vice Principal Jon Puklin, Dean of Students Carrie Oslager and Physical Education/Driver's Education Department Chairman Deb Twenhafel; the school district; Kane County; and the Kane County sheriff's office were responsible because they hired her and supervised her and had seen Kaus' conduct with Cynova and warned her it was inappropriate. The school workers also are accused of intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Charges disputed

Superintendent Todd Stirn, in a news release, said the district first heard the allegations April 23 when Cynova's attorney sent a draft of the lawsuit to the district and offered to settle the case out of court for an undisclosed amount of money. The suit seeks more than $1 million in punitive and more than $1 million in compensatory damages.

The district then asked the sheriff to remove Kaus from the school. Despite that, Stirn said, "based on our initial review of the complaint, we believe that the claims against District 301 staff are unfounded."

Kane County Lt. Patrick Gengler, the public information officer for the sheriff's office, said Kaus has been re-assigned to patrol work while the office looks in to the allegations.

Another deputy has been assigned to the school for the remainder of the school year.

Kaus could not be reached for comment. She has worked for the department for 10 years.

Kaus last year founded the county's peer jury program for having teens judge each other on minor crimes.

She received awards for meritorious service in 2007 and 2011.

• Daily Herald staff writer Harry Hitzeman contributed to this report.