Jury awards woman sexually abused by former police officer $2 million

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A St. Louis County jury awarded a St. Charles County woman more than $2 million in damages after she claimed her therapist, a former Lincoln County police officer, sexually abused her under the guise of mental health counseling.

At the end of a three-day trial in mid-June, the jury decided on $2.135 million in damages, including $1 million in punitive damages, spread over three counts of negligence.

According to the lawsuit, licensed professional counselor Craig Politte of Life Counseling Center LLC initially provided joint marriage counseling to plaintiff Anita Karase and her husband before meeting with them individually at his Creve Coeur office.

“As part of their therapeutic relationship, the defendant began to manipulate (the plaintiff) by using therapeutic methods for his own sexual gratification,” the lawsuit states. Politte “convinced her that it was a consensual relationship, although in reality she was not able to consent.”

The inappropriate contact began several months after the individual sessions began, the lawsuit says. It started with holding hands and kissing and eventually progressed to sexual intercourse – all during agreed-upon counseling sessions.

The defendant’s lawyers did not respond to several requests for comment.

The lawsuit cites several incriminating emails that Politte sent to his patient, including an admission that he “destroyed” her with behavior that “will haunt me for the rest of my life.”

A search of the Missouri Division of Professional Registration’s online records shows that Politte’s counseling license was suspended for three years in October 2021. The lawsuit was filed on December 29, 2020.

Further details about Politte’s police background were not immediately available. The lawsuit describes the therapist as a “former police officer with experience as a narcotics officer, an evidence technician, a detective and a corporal.”