A paramedic learned to deal with sexual assaults by a former Rawlins police captain when she was a teenager by going to a place where it didn't hurt so much.

Stephanie Faber went to Iraq.

"She's in Iraq and she's taking care of people who are seriously injured and it helps her deal with her own pain," her attorney Fred Harrison said Wednesday.

Faber, a contract worker for Kellogg and Root, has cared for wounded soldiers and has been under attack, he said.

"Iraq, amazingly enough, has given her a breather," Harrison said.

Faber, now 27, settled a federal civil rights lawsuit with the city of Rawlins and Adam "Lee" Meacham for $250,000. They city will also acknowledge the assaults occurred and will take steps to prevent other occurrences in the future, he said.

"She's doing very well considering what happened to her," Harrison said. "She's very committed in not wanting this to happen to anyone else."

The first assault occurred in 1996 when she was 15 and in Meacham's patrol car during a "ride-along" program set up by the Rawlins Police Department. Meacham assaulted her two other times at his home before she turned 18, according to court documents.

Faber coped with the assaults by closing her mind in what psychiatrists call "dissociative amnesia," which can be a component of post-traumatic stress disorder, Harrison said.

"That's how children cope with abuse," he said. "They disassociate that memory in order to survive."

Dissociative amnesia is different from repressed memories, which can be very difficult to prove at trial, Harrison said.

While on an ambulance call in Florida to care for a 4-year-old girl who had been raped, Faber's memories came back with a vengeance, leading to a suicide attempt. Her parents called an attorney who notified the Carbon County attorney.

Harrison sharply criticized Wyoming's justice system for failing to prosecute Meacham on criminal charges despite a recommendation to do so from an investigator in 2004.

So Faber sued in April 2007.

The case, which was against Meacham and the city of Rawlins, was scheduled for trial on July 7 before U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson in Cheyenne.

The case was vacated when settlement talks began in June, according to court documents.

Meacham did not return a phone call seeking comment on Wednesday, nor did Richard Rideout who represented Rawlins.

Meacham adamantly denied any sexual contact happened, according to the pretrial memorandum. He noted Faber did not file the claims about the alleged incidents with the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation until five years after she turned 18. Faber also saw him since the alleged incidents, according to the memorandum.

In Rawlins' final pretrial memorandum, the city agreed with Meacham, adding it responsibly oversaw the ride-along program and police department actions.

The city also claimed the relationship between Meacham and Faber was consensual.

But Faber, through Harrison and attorney John Robinson of Casper, responded that the city knew about Meacham's behavior "as a liar, a womanizer, and a terrible leader." Meacham also had parties at his home with minor girls, alcohol and other officers.

During the course of litigation, reports of two other alleged rapes by Meacham surfaced, and Harrison noted that any so-called consent by Faber was while Meacham was in uniform and armed, according to court documents.

The settlement - paid for by the city's and Wyoming's insurance pools - showed Faber's allegations were true and that Rawlins could have prevented the assaults, Harrison said.

Criminal prosecution of Meacham is still possible, and the state could decertify him as a peace officer, he added.

Meacham, who is in his early 40s, took medical retirement in late 2006.

Faber will be returning to Florida from Iraq, and will have to resume therapy for what happened in Rawlins, Harrison said.

The money will cover her expenses for care and future needs, but it wasn't the object of the lawsuit, Harrison said.

"Stephanie has proven that not even the second in command of the Rawlins Police Department and a Carbon County Commissioner and the son of prominent parents in the community is above the law," he said. "The rule of law applies to everyone."

Reach Tom Morton at (307) 266-0616, or at Tom.Morton@trib.com.