A Westchester woman who was held hostage by bloodthirsty bandits while working as an African aid worker is suing a relief group run by evangelist Franklin Graham for allegedly refusing to ransom her.
Flavia Wagner — who spent 105 days in “harrowing” captivity after being kidnapped in the Darfur region of Sudan last year — says Samaritan’s Purse intentionally held off tapping an insurance policy that could have been used to free her.
“Instead, Samaritan’s Purse’s leadership chose to rest comfortably in their own homes every evening while Ms. Wagner continued to suffer the horrors of her captivity,” the Manhattan federal court filing says.
Wagner’s suit seeks unspecified damages for personal injury and emotional distress from the Christian charity and Clayton Consultants, a risk-management firm it hired to negotiate with her captors.
Wagner, 36, of Bronxville, says she was abducted May 18, 2010, after her driver, who also worked for Samaritan’s Purse, set up an attack by Muslim bandits outside the village of Abu Ajura.
The driver and another worker were freed within days, but Wagner was held captive outdoors by more than 20 Arabic-speaking men who repeatedly subjected her to “shocking abuse” that included mock executions and threats that she would be gang-raped and tortured before being put to death.
“Ms. Wagner’s fear and suffering were magnified because many of the frequently idle kidnappers regularly consumed alcohol and recreational drugs (except during Ramadan),” court papers say.
“When the kidnappers and guards were intoxicated, their mistreatment of Ms. Wagner grew in proportion to their intoxication.”
She was finally liberated by Sudanese police following talks between her captors and Sudanese officials.
Franklin Graham, son of legendary evangelist Billy Graham, publicly thanked the Sudanese and U.S. governments afterward.
Spokesmen for Samaritan’s Purse and Clayton Consultants didn’t immediately return requests for comment.