The first social media posts began showing up in local New Jersey Facebook groups last June, warning women to be on the lookout for an alleged sexual predator then working at a popular Asbury Park restaurant.

“We’ve got a live one right here in Asbury, folks. A manager at Modine drugged a woman last night at another establishment. This isn’t his first offense. Be careful and guard your drinks," one Facebook post read.

“Spread the word of the rapey bartender!!!! Don’t let him get by!” read another.

“Women: If this man is your bartender in Asbury, don’t trust his drinks,” said a post on Reddit that quickly drew more than 100 comments, detailing rumors and allegations of rape and sexual assault dating back more than a decade.

The target of their posts -- Brent Comyack of Hillsborough -- says none of the sexual assault and drugging allegations are true and the flood of online posts featuring his name and photo ruined his life.

“This is nothing more than a lynching party," said Paul Rizzo, Comyack’s attorney.

Comyack filed a civil lawsuit in October against the woman who initially accused him of drugging her drink and four of the women who helped spread the allegations on social media. He also sued two male bartenders who repeated the story on Bartenders’ Guild, a popular industry website.

Comyack, who was never charged in the alleged drugging case, quickly lost his job at the Asbury Park restaurant because of the flood of online posts. He moved to Tennessee and North Carolina, but said he was unable to find work in either state after potential employers heard about the allegations. He received numerous death threats, his attorney said.

The lawsuit, which has been working its way through Somerset County Superior Court, has raised questions about when women in the #MeToo era have the right to warn each other about a man they suspect of sexual misconduct -- and when the man has the right to fight back.

Comyack’s suit is one of a series of lawsuits filed around the world accusing women of defamation and other offenses for accusing men of sexual harassment, sexual assault or misconduct. In a climate where men’s reputations can be destroyed via social media, the lawsuits are often one of the only venues for men to push back against allegations that never result in criminal charges.

But critics says the lawsuits can have a chilling effect, discouraging women from coming forward or speaking out against sexual abuse out of fear of getting sued.

J. Remy Green, an attorney representing four of the women who were sued for posting about Comyack, was the first to dub the group a “whisper network” in court papers. The term refers to “an informal chain of conversations among women about men who need to be watched because of rumors, allegations or known incidents of sexual misconduct, harassment or assault,” according to the court filings.

Green said “whisper networks” have existed since the beginning of time and the women in the case -- most of whom never met either Comyack or the alleged drugging victim -- did nothing wrong by telling friends on social media what they’d heard about him.

“This is how women have been protecting themselves since women needed to protect themselves,” Green said.

Though “whisper networks” previously referred to small groups of women passing information among themselves, the term has been used in recent years to refer to online networks of women sharing #MeToo allegations. Some men have filed defamation lawsuits to defend their names.

In Comyack’s case, the social media posts about the alleged drugging drew several online comments from other unnamed women who alleged they were sexually assaulted or drugged by the bartender, according to the court papers.

“It’s just implausible to think that’s all made up,” Green said. “It really is a story of someone having his life catch up to him.”

Comyack denied all of the sexual assault and sexual misconduct allegations through his attorney.

An image from a Facebook post accusing a New Jersey bartender of drugging a woman. The image is included in court papers in a civil lawsuit filed by the bartender, who denies any wrongdoing.

Comyack, 27, grew up in a military family in Hillsborough, news reports said. He graduated from Hillsborough High School and has been working as a bartender for years, according to his social media accounts.

He pleaded guilty in 2013 to theft and conspiracy, according to court records. But Comyack has never been convicted or charged with any type of sexual assault or sexual misconduct, despite some of the online posts that claimed there are “positive rape kits” and charges pending against him in several states, his attorney said.

“They’re just running amok,” Rizzo said of the rumors posted online about his client.

Comyack was working at Modine, an upscale Asbury Park restaurant known for its fried chicken, last June when a female friend asked to meet him after he got off work, according to court papers.

The woman, who NJ Advance Media is not naming because she is an alleged victim, arrived at Modine extremely intoxicated, but said she did not want Comyack to take her home, according to the lawsuit. Instead, the pair went to a birthday party being held at another bar.

Throughout the night, Comyack kept giving the woman cups of water and encouraged her to drink. Comyack later said he was trying to hydrate her to sober her up, the court papers said. But the woman said she suspected he had put drugs in the water. The lawsuit does not specify how the woman got home.

The woman went to Asbury Park police, but declined to file a complaint, according to court filings. She told friends she got an independent drug test that showed she had methodone in her system. Methodone is a narcotic that can be used to treat opioid addiction. Its side effects can include making the user feel lightheaded or faint and the drug can increase the feeling of intoxication if alcohol is in your system.

The woman, who declined to comment through her attorney and asked that her name not be used, told friends she thought she was drugged by Comyack. Friends quickly posted about it on Facebook, Instagram, Reddit and other social media sites.

An image from a Facebook post thanking women who spread the word about a bartender who allegedly drugged a woman. The image was included in court filings related to a lawsuit filed by the bartender, who denied the allegations.

Modine, the restaurant where Comyack was working, posted on social media that he had been fired a few days later.

“While the event did not take place at our restaurant, we take this matter very seriously. Within hours of the team being notified, the person in question was terminated,” the restaurant said on its Instagram account, according to a copy of the post included in court papers.

Modine managers did not immediately respond to a request to comment on the case.

Alexis Devaney, a photographer from Brooklyn, said she was among those spreading the word about the allegations in a Facebook group last summer. She says she didn’t know the alleged victim or Comyack personally, but they had mutual friends and she wanted to warn others in Asbury Park about a potentially dangerous bartender.

She shared the Reddit post, titled “Women: If this man is your bartender in Asbury, don’t trust his drinks,” on Facebook in July. Later that month, she shared a screen shot of another person’s Instagram post that said Comyack had moved to North Carolina to look for bartending work.

"Don’t let bars let him in!” the post said.

Devaney, 28, said she wasn’t surprised to find out she was among the people Comyack was suing in October because mutual friends had warned her he was getting a lawyer. She continues to fear his friends or supporters will retaliate against her.

“It’s given me nightmares,” said Devaney, who grew up in Toms River. “I am constantly afraid.” But she has no regrets about being part of the “whisper network,” she said. Her posts warning women about Comyack are still up, despite the lawsuit.

“I just want to show women can’t be silenced,” Devaney said. “We can speak out. We can warn our friends. You can’t stop us.”

Jaclyn Valentino, another of the women sued by Comyack, said she took her posts about him off her social media accounts after she heard from friends he might sue. But she was still named in the lawsuit, along with her twin sister, Nicole.

“There had probably been 50 to 100 people sharing things. I don’t know why he picked me,” said Jaclyn Valentino, 23, of Bergenfield.

As a sexual assault survivor, Jaclyn Valentino said she did not think twice about sharing the posts she saw about Comyack allegedly drugging women. He was a former boyfriend of one of her friends.

“If I can keep someone safe, I will," Jaclyn Valentino said. “I’ve always been a big fan of believing survivors.”

Shannon Brown, a logistics specialist in Woodbridge, said she didn’t know any of the people involved when she saw a post about Comyack on Facebook last summer. She quickly shared it, eager to warn friends who frequent bars and restaurants in Asbury Park.

“The story kind of hit a nerve with me,” said Brown, 32. “It’s important to me that the community stays safe . . . I trusted the people that shared it.”

After sharing her first post, she said she began receiving messages from other women sharing their experiences with Comyack.

“If it kept one more person safe, then I’m OK having to deal with this (lawsuit) now,” Brown said.

Brown, Devaney and the Valentino sisters have formed a GoFundMe page to help pay their legal bills.

“We spoke the truth, and Brent is trying to silence us," the GoFundMe page says. “Comyack’s case has already caused huge emotional as well as financial stresses for us. We are all young women in our early 20s and early 30s and risk bankrupting ourselves fighting this lawsuit.”

The GoFundMe page had raised nearly $5,000 toward a $75,000 goal as of Wednesday.

The women’s attorney filed court papers last week asking that Comyack’s lawsuit be thrown out for numerous reasons, including that calling a man “'scummy to women,' a ‘douche,’ and even a ‘predator’ is a decision and an opinion protected by the First Amendment.”

Rizzo, Comyack’s attorney, said that legal argument is weak. He said the bartender plans to keep fighting in court. He declined to say where his client is living now or if he has been able to find a job. Comyack fears his online critics are continuing to track his movements out of state, as they did when he moved to Tennessee and North Carolina.

Comyack’s lawsuit is asking for unspecified damages from the alleged victim, the “whisper network” women and the two bartenders who posted about him. He also wants people to stop ruining his name on the internet, his attorney said.

“They’re not stopping,” Rizzo said. “They’re not giving him a chance to move on with his life ... He hasn’t been convicted of anything.”

Tell us your experiences with allegations of sexual harassment in New Jersey: Here’s how to share your story.

Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KellyHeyboer. Find her at KellyHeyboerReporter on Facebook.