Former Ligonier police chief John Berger and a Donegal Township addiction treatment facility are being sued by a woman who claims she was sexually assaulted during an inpatient stay there in 2024.
The 12-count lawsuit filed in Westmoreland County contends Berger worked as a behavioral health technician at Dreamlife Recovery after previously receiving treatment there. He was a patient a year earlier following his firing as chief of the Ligonier Valley Police Department in May 2023. The woman’s identity was not disclosed.
Berger, 54, was charged in 2024 with seven counts related to sexual assault allegations made by a 25-year-old woman. Berger has denied the allegations. His criminal trial on those charges is scheduled to begin in June in Westmoreland County.
According to the lawsuit, the woman claimed she met Berger while both were patients at the treatment facility in 2023. The court filing said she returned to the facility in early 2024 for substance abuse issues and an eating disorder that stemmed from being the victim of prior physical and sexual abuse.
“Despite knowledge that plaintiff’s substance use disorder stemmed from prior physical and sexual abuse … Dreamlife allowed one of its employees to take advantage of plaintiff and sexually assault her when she was paying … significant sums of money to recover from her substance use issues,” the lawsuit claims.
The court filing alleges Berger made repeated sexual advances, assigned himself duties on patient floors assigned to women, and in late April 2024 barged into the woman’s room and sexually assaulted her.
Dreamlife is accused in the lawsuit of negligence for hiring Berger. The lawsuit contends facility officials were aware of previous allegations of sexual assault against Berger, allowed him access to the woman, and failed to ensure her safety.
The woman is seeking an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages. Representatives of the facility did not respond to requests for comment.
Dan Joseph, Berger’s criminal defense attorney in the sexual assault case, said the former police chief maintains the sexual relationship was consensual.
“The statute in the criminal case is that if a worker has sexual contact with a patient, consent is not a defense unless there was previous sexual involvement before working there. He maintains they had prior sexual contact,” Joseph said.
Berger served nearly two decades as a police chief in the Ligonier area. His firing came days after the Ligonier Valley Police Department was raided in May 2023 by agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and state police in what officials at the time said was an investigation focused on the chief.
Berger, following a Westmoreland County grand jury investigation, was charged last December with bribery, theft and drug counts. Prosecutors allege he allowed a friend to operate as a drug dealer who sold cocaine and marijuana out of his Ligonier home in exchange for free pain pills, a plaque and a cash prize award.
Berger also was accused of stealing pills from a drop box that collected discarded prescription medications.
The lawsuit does not involve conduct associated with that criminal case.