Two lawsuits have been filed against the convicted rapist who met women on the Christian Mingle dating Web site and one suit is also seeking damages for negligence against Sparks Networks, Inc., the owner of ChristianMingle.com.
One suit was filed Jan. 29 in San Diego Superior Court by Katie Kuhlman, 24, who gave permission to reporters to use her name at the sentencing of Sean Patrick Banks, 39, when he got 37 years to life in prison Nov. 7, 2014.
Banks is currently housed at the California Institute for Men in Chino and awaiting transfer to another prison. Kuhlman’s attorney, Dan Gilleon, said Banks has yet to be served a copy of the lawsuit.
Kuhlman also sued Cheryl Banks, the defendant’s mother, for defamation, saying she accused Kuhlman of lying about the 2012 assault in an email to the victim’s brother on Facebook. Cheryl Banks is reportedly out of town and could not be reached for comment.
Kuhlman’s lawsuit seeks damages from Banks for rape and false imprisonment stemming from the Nov. 21, 2012 incident in her La Mesa apartment. No specific amount of damages was sought other than the total amount would be over $25,000.
“I see you are a Christian as am I…as is my son,” wrote Cheryl Banks to Kuhlman’s brother, according to the lawsuit. “We pray every day that Katie will feel convicted by the Holy Spirit to tell the truth about what happened. I’m sorry to say, she has not.”
Cheryl Banks asserted that Kuhlman’s testimony “has sent an innocent man to prison” and asked her brother to talk to her sister about it. She described her son as “a valuable Christian man” who suffered “a travesty of justice.”
At his sentencing, Banks declared he would waive his appeal if Kuhlman could “pass a polygraph test.” With the lawsuit is documentation that she submitted to a lie detector test Dec. 18, 2014, and the administrator of the test concluded that Kuhlman showed “no deception indicated.”
An eight woman, four man jury found Banks guilty of rape, digital penetration, burglary and rape of an intoxicated person involving another woman in 2009 who only came forward after Kuhlman reported it to La Mesa police.
Kuhlman did not sue the dating Web site, but another victim who never actually met Banks did file suit against the corporation which owns ChristianMingle.com in Los Angeles Superior Court. Its headquarters are in Los Angeles.
That victim is only identified as Jane Doe, and alleges negligence, infliction of emotional distress, fraud and stalking. She claims Banks stalked her over the phone and sent her emails. The jury acquitted Banks of a charge involving her in which she claimed Banks tried to dissuade her from testifying against him.
Christian Mingle will not do same-sex matches. They still use their slogan “Find God’s match for you” in TV ads. It is no safer than any other dating Web site.
The suit says the dating service should have protected its users. It says Spark Networks “specifically and implicitly represented…that Banks was a man of Christian faith and that he could be God’s match for the (plaintiff).”
The dating service could not be reached for comment by press time, but it says “Spark Networks USA LLC does not conduct background checks on the members or subscribers” on various pages of its Web site.
