Pennsylvania woman sues Fort Kent Jehovah's Witnesses over alleged 1980s childhood abuse

A 45-year-old Pennsylvania woman has sued a Jehovah's Witnesses congregation in northern Maine and the movement's principal U.S. corporation, alleging that she was sexually abused as a child by two congregation elders and a fellow congregant across roughly eight years beginning when she was six.

The plaintiff, Shannon Simendinger, filed the civil complaint on January 8, 2025 in Aroostook County Superior Court in Caribou, Maine, according to reporting by two Maine news outlets.^[1][2] The suit names the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses in Fort Kent, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, and three individuals as defendants. As of that coverage, the case was awaiting a defense response; no ruling or settlement has been reported.^[1]

The allegations are civil claims that have not been proven in court. The filing itself is a matter of public record; the accusations within it remain unproven pending litigation.

Who is named in the suit

Simendinger is suing under her own name, rather than as an anonymous plaintiff.^[1] The complaint identifies three men as her alleged abusers: David Ezzy, described as a congregation elder; Ernest Fyans, a former Fort Kent elder; and Daniel Plourde, described as a congregant.^[2]

One of those men has a separate criminal record. Ernest Fyans, a former Fort Kent elder, was convicted in September 2023 and sentenced to 20 years for child sexual assault, in a criminal case distinct from Simendinger's civil suit.^[3] In or around August 2025, Maine's Supreme Judicial Court upheld the first count of that conviction but vacated a second count on statute-of-limitations grounds.^[3] That appellate development concerns Fyans's criminal case, not the pending civil action, and does not disturb the first count.

The distinction matters for reading the civil complaint. A criminal conviction requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt and is entered by the state; a civil claim asks a jury to weigh liability on a lower standard and is brought by the person alleging harm. Fyans's conviction establishes a criminal finding as to him on the surviving count; it does not resolve the separate civil allegations Simendinger brings against him, the two other men, or the defendant organizations, all of which remain unproven.

The other two men named as alleged abusers in the civil suit — David Ezzy and Daniel Plourde — are not reported to have been criminally convicted in connection with these accusations. The claims against them are allegations only.

What the lawsuit alleges

According to the complaint, Simendinger was sexually assaulted beginning at age six, over a period of roughly 1985 to 1993, by the two elders, Ezzy and Fyans.^[2] The suit further alleges that Plourde began abusing her in 1990.^[2]

Beyond the individual accusations, the complaint targets how the congregation is alleged to have handled reports of misconduct. The lawsuit alleges that the congregation's practice of dealing with such matters internally silenced Simendinger and allowed the abuse to continue.^[1] It further alleges that when her mother reported the abuse to police, the report was dismissed, and that the church threatened the family.^[1]

These are the plaintiff's contentions as set out in the filing. The named defendants' responses, if any have been entered, were not reported in the available coverage.

The counts and the relief sought

The complaint brings seven counts, including sexual assault, abuse, battery, breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, and infliction of emotional distress.^[2] A seventh count was not individually itemized in the news coverage.

Simendinger seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages and has requested a jury trial.^[1] No specific dollar figure appears in the reporting, and no damages amount has been specified in the coverage reviewed here.

The exact docket number and the verbatim case caption were not confirmed against the Aroostook County Superior Court record for this account; they were not published in the available reporting.

Why a suit over 1980s conduct can proceed now

The events at the center of the complaint are alleged to have occurred more than three decades ago. Civil claims that old would, in many jurisdictions, be barred by a statute of limitations — the legal deadline for bringing a suit.

Maine amended its childhood-sexual-abuse statute of limitations in 2021 to remove time bars for such claims.^[1] That change plausibly enables a civil suit over conduct alleged to have taken place in the 1980s and 1990s, which would otherwise sit well outside a conventional filing deadline. The available coverage does not name the specific statute or legal vehicle under which Simendinger's claims proceed, so the precise mechanism is not specified in the reporting, and this account does not assert a named revival statute.

That framing places the institution's alleged handling of misconduct reports, and not only the alleged acts themselves, at the center of the case. Simendinger's complaint reflects that shape: alongside the accusations against the three named men, it challenges how the congregation is alleged to have responded when the abuse was reported to police.

Sourcing and status

The filing and the identities of the parties are attested by two independent named Maine outlets: Maine Public, which reported the suit on January 23, 2025, and NewsCenterMaine.^[1][2] Both name Simendinger as the plaintiff and identify Ezzy, Fyans, and Plourde as the men accused in the complaint.

Ernest Fyans's separate criminal conviction and the 2025 appellate development that followed are reported by the Bangor Daily News.^[3]

No official response from the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York or from the Fort Kent congregation was located in the coverage reviewed for this account.

The case remains pending. It was filed on January 8, 2025, and, per the available reporting, was awaiting a defense response. No civil ruling or settlement has been reported.