Beaufort man wrongly accused of assaulting child files suit against former employer

A Beaufort man wrongly accused of inappropriately touching a 4-year-old during a Sunday school class last year has filed a lawsuit against his former employer, who allegedly terminated his employment while he was held in jail.

Joel Iacopelli filed the suit on Monday in Beaufort County Common Pleas Court against United HealthCare Services, Inc., and employees Kenneth Zullo and Joseph Booker. Iacopelli is being represented by Neil Alger of Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick, P.A. in Hampton.

The suit alleges that Iacopelli was terminated for “failure to report to work” on July 17, 2015, in a letter written by Booker after Iacopelli’s wife called the company on July 13 to request time off for Iacopelli, who had been arrested on July 10.

The time off request had been approved, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit also alleges the defendants’ termination of Iacopelli is “a clear violation of public policy for disregarding his obediance to the laws of the state,” and that Iacopelli was “illegally terminated from his employment in retaliation for the criminal allegations and proceedings.”

Iacopelli was released on bond on Aug. 20, 2015 and the “erroneous charges pursued against (him) were dismissed summarily,” the lawsuit said.

The criminal sexual conduct with a minor charge against Iacopelli was dropped after a preliminary hearing in which Beaufort County Magistrate Richard Brooks dismissed the charges due to lack of probable cause.

The charge stemmed from an accusation that Iacopelli touched the child inappropriately during a June 28, 2015, Sunday school class at Community Bible Church in Port Royal.

Attempts to reach United HealthCare Services were not successful. Alger said on Friday that he has not yet received a response to the lawsuit.

“Unfortunately, a corporate entity took advantage of what was a very unfortunate incident and when Joel was most vulnerable to terminate him - essentially trimming the corporate fat,” Alger said.

The most recent lawsuit joins a separate one filed Dec. 31 by Iacopelli and his wife, Marianne Iacopelli, against The Town of Port Royal, Sgt. Robert Bilyard, Hope Haven of the Lowcountry, the Beaufort County Department of Social Services, and DSS employees Latasha Williams and Kyra Speller.

In both lawsuits, Iacopelli and his wife claimed their constitutional rights against unreasonable search and seizure of property were denied during the police department’s investigation. That led the defendants to ask to move the cases to federal court after denying Iacopelli’s rights were violated.

This story was originally published October 28, 2016 at 2:54 PM with the headline "Beaufort man wrongly accused of assaulting child files suit against former employer."