A 26-year-old woman who became a volunteer firefighter after her home burned down filed a federal lawsuit Thursday claiming her instructor at the Ocean County Fire Academy bound, tortured and raped her in his home last year.

The woman, identified in court papers by her initials, told investigators that her instructor, John Syers, lured her to his Lacey Township home on Sept. 26, 2018 under the guise of showing off his new house. Syers is listed as an instructor at the academy, according to the county government website. He is also a firefighter in Elizabeth, officials said.

“While Syers was showing (her) his bedroom, he proceeded to restrain, beat, burn, sexually assault and strangle (her) over the course of 46 minutes, despite her continuous pleas for him to stop,” the woman’s attorney, Robert R. Fuggi Jr. said in a statement.

Disorderly persons charges of simple assault and lewdness filed against Syers are pending in municipal court. The Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office has also acknowledged an ongoing investigating and the case could be transferred to Superior Court.

The lawsuit names Syers, the Ocean County Fire Academy and county freeholders as defendants in a civil rights complaint. Syers said in a brief phone interview with NJ Advance Media on Friday that he was referring all questions to his attorney, Stephen McGuckin of Toms River. The attorney did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The woman is a volunteer with the Seaside Heights Volunteer Fire Department and was attending the academy for required training, according to Fuggi. The woman said she decided to become a firefighter after narrowly escaping a blaze that burned down her home in a Lavallette condominium complex in May 2017. She escaped the blaze through a window, according to court documents.

After applying to the fire department, the woman attended training at the Ocean County Fire Academy in Waretown, according to the suit.

In court papers, the woman said she and her instructor, Syers, dated briefly, but then broke up when he found another girlfriend. When that relationship ended, Syers then began texting and messaging the victim on social media, the suit states.

On the day of the alleged assault, the woman said she and Syers shared a consensual kiss and when she pulled away and “withdrew consent for sexual contact,” he handcuffed her hands behind her back and pinned her to his bed. Syers said he was punishing her for making him wait and referring to occasions where she didn’t show up for dates, the suit states.

"Using the rope skills he honed as a fire academy instructor, (Syers tied the victim’s) arms, neck and legs to the bed with rope,” Fuggi said. The suit states Syers tore the woman’s clothes off, struck her several times, blindfolded her and ripped out some of her hair before sexually assaulting her repeatedly. He strangled her until she was unconscious and then poured a substance on her “leaving large burn marks,” the suit states.

The suit also states that Syers snapped several cellphone photos of the woman as she lay restrained on his bed.

Fuggi said when the assault began, the woman noted the time according to a clock in the room was 10 a.m. When the woman regained consciousness, the time was 10:46 a.m., Fuggi said.

After the alleged assault, the victim was able to free herself from the handcuffs and rope while Syers was in the bathroom, the attorney said. The woman quickly dressed, refusing Syers’ offers for her to shower at his house, the suit states.

Syers offered the woman a few “insincere apologies” before letting her out of the house, her attorney said in the suit.

The woman called a friend and tried to explain what happened, but couldn’t because she was too distraught, the suit states. The next morning, the woman went to Community Medical Center in Toms River and was given a rape test, antibiotics and an emergency contraceptive to prevent pregnancy, according to court documents.

An investigator from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office interviewed the woman at the hospital and she also contacted Lacey Township police and obtained a permanent restraining order against Syers, her lawyer said.

In the days after the assault, the woman called Syers and, in a conversation recorded by investigators, Syers “admitted to hearing (the victim) say no to the sexual assault yet continued anyway,” the suit states.

The 32-count federal lawsuit alleges torture, sexual assault, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, domestic violence and invasion of privacy. The suit alleges Ocean County officials failed to properly train, supervise and protect employees against Syers and accuses them of negligent hiring, gross negligence and failure to do their due diligence before hiring Syers.

In addition to his duties as a fire academy instructor, Syers is also a firefighter with the Elizabeth Fire Department earning $55,307 a year, according to public records.

Kelly Martins, a spokeswoman for the city, said Syers has been employed as an Elizabeth firefighter since March 2017 and remains on the job.

Officials in Ocean County did not return a call seeking comment on Friday.

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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