A Golden Krust pie purveyor in Brooklyn is facing claims he sexually harassed and assaulted a former employee.
Franchise owner Stanley Dennis, 64, was sued in federal court in Brooklyn this week by an unidentified cashier.
The woman, identified as Jane Doe in her paperwork, claims she started working for Dennis in August 2015 and felt bombarded with “inappropriate” questions from him about her personal life.
According to the complaint, Dennis began pressuring the woman to meet him outside work around February 2016 and professed his love to her in January 2017.
She says she became “increasingly uncomfortable” around Dennis but needed her job and ultimately agreed to help him remodel a store on Church Avenue in Prospect Park South in March 2017 after he “demanded” her assistance.
She claims Dennis attacked her without warning at the location, “aggressively” pulling her by the arm into his office for a “brutal” assault.
“Upon successfully forcing plaintiff inside, defendant Dennis then threw plaintiff in a chair. Defendant Dennis then squeezed plaintiff’s legs together with his legs, locking them in place,” the lawsuit obtained by the Daily News reads.
The woman, who was 31 at the time, claims she tried to fight Dennis off, pushing and “slapping” him in an effort to escape.
Dennis allegedly held the woman down as he lifted up her shirt and pulled down her bra to expose her breasts, the lawsuit states.
“As Plaintiff continued to fight, defendant Dennis tilted his head down and tried to suck on plaintiff’s exposed nipple. Defendant Dennis then attempted to untie plaintiff’s sweatpants and put his hand down plaintiff’s pants,” the lawsuit alleges.
The woman finally broke free and ran out of the office, according to the complaint.
Reached by The News on Thursday, Dennis said he hadn’t read the lawsuit yet and couldn’t comment.
“My attorney called me (about it), but I have not seen it,” he said. “I don’t know where it’s going. I don’t know where it came from. I’m not going to get into it unless advised by my attorney.”
Dennis owns several Golden Krust restaurants in Brooklyn and reportedly is related to the company’s founding family.
The parent company is also a named defendant in the lawsuit.
“I cannot comment on any pending litigation against our client,” said Brooke Youngwirth, a lawyer representing Golden Krust Franchising Inc.
“In accordance with our company policy, we do not comment on any existing litigation,” Golden Krust spokesman Steven Clarke said.
The woman claims in her lawsuit that she continued working for Dennis after the assault and endured more unwanted attention, which she rebuffed.
She said that around July 2017, Dennis grabbed her from behind and traced an “X” on the back of her neck with his finger.
She alleges Dennis “proclaimed” to two other employees that he was in love with her and that the “X” was to “mark plaintiff as his property.”
The unidentified woman claims she confided in her pastor about the abuse and was fired on Aug. 22, 2017.
“As a result of defendants’ unlawful action, plaintiff felt extremely humiliated, degraded, victimized, embarrassed and emotionally distressed,” the suit filed by the woman’s lawyer, Seamus Barrett, claims.
The woman filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Sept. 29, 2017 and received a “right to sue” letter from the EEOC on Aug. 6, according to her filing.
Golden Krust was founded by Jamaica-born meat pie mogul Lowell Hawthorne in the Bronx in 1989.
Hawthorne personified the American rags-to-riches dream, immigrating to the U.S. from Jamaica at age 21, opening his first Golden Krust less than a decade later with family investments and reportedly becoming the first Caribbean-owned business owner to be granted a franchise license.
He went on to build the beef-patty business into a national name with more than 120 restaurants in nine states.
Hawthorne died in a shocking suicide last December that left his family grasping for answers.
The 57-year-old entrepreneur was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Dec. 2 inside his Bronx factory.
Police found the gun and a note, but authorities did not reveal what the message said.
Two former employees filed a proposed class action lawsuit days later, saying the company failed to pay them overtime wages. That suit was eventually dismissed.
Omg say it isn’t soo . Dennis Dennis your my good peeps & i believe The browning words fi true . Cause you were after that redskin young gal like dry peas want fire with your mean self . The young lady is high color red skin Jamaican girl . Him wife is a redbone red skin woman also . Dennis no give away prayers one mean Rass old man . Mi know somebody would clip your wing ‘ always chasing down them young browning a wonder if a pelpa open her eyes and told har what to the do . Lord a mercy story come to bump up a church Ave golden crust .
I hope she won that lawsuits and own all 9 Restaurants. I noticed all those middle-aged Jamaican man very disrespectful and don’t have no respect for women. All of them got the same mindset I hate to judge but I’m speaking the truth and I believe everything that she said because the same thing happened to me when I was here without my papers