Imprisoned pilot who sexually abused teen on his plane had other underage victims, lawsuit alleges – NJ.com

The multimillionaire pilot who pleaded guilty in June to having sex with an underage girl aboard his plane is being sued by the victim, who claims he told her there were four other underage victims, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

Stephen Bradley Mell, 53, formerly of Somerset County, began grooming a 13-year-old Summit girl shortly after she completed eighth-grade and went on to sexually abuse her for years, including mid-flight on planes he owned, according to the lawsuit in Essex County Superior Court.

The victim, now 18, claims Mell — who went by his middle name — gave her large sums of cash, followed her around a pre-prom party, flew her and her mother in a helicopter over New York City and encouraged the girl to take flying lessons at Somerset Airport.

While she rebuffed his initial advances, the girl claims Mell was persistent, manipulative and that she eventually gave in to his advances, which took place from June to November 2017, according to the suit.

The suit also states that there may be other underage victims. “Mell confessed (to the victim) that he had four prior relationships with four other of his daughter’s high school friends in the summer of 2016,” the suit states.

Three of the victims were from the daughter’s high school while the fourth was a member of his daughter’s choir group, according to the suit.

In court documents, the girl says she was injured in a boating accident in Massachusetts and that “Mell had his pilot fly his plane to Martha’s Vineyard to get (the victim) and bring her home to New Jersey,” the lawsuit claims.

On July 20, 2017, Mell sexually abused the victim “about halfway through the flight to New Jersey from Cape Cod when Mell suggested that they have sexual intercourse in the cabin,” the suit states.

Mell sexually abused the victim in the cabin while the plane was on autopilot. On another occasion in mid-September 2017, Mell sexually abused the girl on a business plane he owned while it was at Morristown Airport, the suit states.

The sexual abuse also took place in homes Mell owned in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, according to the suit. The two stayed at several ritzy hotels, including the Trump Soho in New York, the Hilton in Short Hills and the Hyatt Regency in Morristown, the suit states.

At the Trump hotel, Mell told the victim to “stand away from him while in the lobby and at all times when they were both in public,” the lawsuit states. In the hotel room, he used his cellphone to take sexually inappropriate photos of the girl, the suit states. And at the Morristown hotel, Mell directed the girl to “walk a distance behind him into the parking lot where he had parked his car.”

A one-time CEO of an investment firm, Mell paid for the hotel rooms with his corporate credit card and sexually abused the girl in his Summit office, the suit states.

The victim estimates she and Mell had at least 34 sexual encounters from June to November 2017.

The relationship was uncovered in December 2017 when the girl’s friend found photos taken at Trump Soho and alerted another friend. That friend told a teacher who called the police, the suit states.

The lawsuit alleges a violation of the child sexual abuse act, child pornography, assault and battery, emotional distress, false imprisonment and invasion of privacy.

In addition to Mell, who is serving his time in a federal prison in Pennsylvania, the suit names his wife, Kimberly Ruggles Mell and his companies, claiming they hid Mell’s assets to avoid financial judgments stemming from his crimes.

Kimberly Ruggles Mell, who lives in Massachusetts, could not be reached for comment.

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

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