Deadliest Catch Allegations: Sig Hansen Sued By Oldest Daughter For Molestation
Editor’s note: see the update at end of this article.
Deadliest Catch allegations against star Sig Hansen will not affect the show’s production or continued presence on The Discovery Channel, Fox News is reporting. Meanwhile, Hansen’s oldest daughter, who claims the captain molested her when she was a little girl, is suing Hansen for $300,000.
Hansen’s oldest daughter, Melissa Eckstrom, who is now 28 and an attorney, filed court documents in Washington state alleging that Hansen, 50, molested her in 1990, when she was two years old, according to Radar Online.
Sig Hansen of Deadliest Catch sued for sexual abuse by estranged daughter https://t.co/x5TzkFHlDj pic.twitter.com/cYAySWSFwy
— BlaqueRoseSyndicate (@BRSyndicate) March 18, 2017
Specifically, she alleged that, during a medical examination, she revealed that “daddy puts his finger in my potty-pot” and telling her grandmothers that “daddy pottied on my leg.”
“I have memories of my father hurting my genital region. Memories of being in a room alone with my father and crying out in pain.”
Further, Eckstrom’s court filing includes a childhood sketch she claims to have made at some point, which she says she created during a counseling session to explain the abuse she allegedly suffered from her father. The sketch shows two adult figures, labeled “mommy” and “daddy,” and a little girl representing Melissa. Also labeled are the genital regions of the male and the female, labeled “potty pot.”
The daughter of “Deadliest Catch” captain Sig Hansen says he molested her as a child – exclusively on #Kiro7 next >>https://t.co/C0DRMsnMfh pic.twitter.com/u2lLEoMJnX
— KIRO 7 (@KIRO7Seattle) March 19, 2017
In a lengthy statement, Hansen denied the allegations.
“‘This is nothing more than an old-fashioned shakedown. It’s a completely frivolous lawsuit full of lies that my ex-wife made up to take away my daughter, and still uses to try to extort money from me. It’s blackmail.”
Specifically, Hansen says, the lawsuit is retribution against him because he refused to pay $300,000 for his estranged daughter to go to law school.
From a criminal standpoint, according to the Seattle Times, Hansen has been cleared of allegations that he molested his daughter for more than 20 years. Going back to the early 1990’s, when Hansen’s divorce from wife Lisa Eckstrom was working its way through the courts, the allegations first surfaced. A series of investigations, interviews with various social workers, and a criminal trial failed to turn up any conclusive evidence that the molestation claims were true.
“The probability of (Eckstrom) having been sexually abused by her father is extremely low.”
Further, authorities concluded that Lisa Eckstrom and other family members conspired to concoct allegations against Hansen to keep him from having custody of Melissa. Hansen later relinquished custody rights to his daughter.
Although he’s been cleared of any wrongdoing criminally, Hansen can still be sued civilly over the molestation claims. That’s because Washington law allows sexual molestation victims to pursue civil lawsuits against their alleged abusers well into adulthood.
Hansen’s lawyer, Lafcadio Darling, says that the criminal courts’ findings should carry over to civil court.
“We all understand the concept of a fair shake or the right to a fair trial. Well, not only has this been tried, but it was tried in (Hansen’s) favor. That should be able to stand.”
The Discovery Channel, for its part, says the allegations won’t affect production or airing of Deadliest Catch. Speaking to Fox News, a representative confirmed that the network is sticking by its star.
“A court reviewed the facts 25 years ago and found there was no merit to the allegations. Out of respect for the family and all those involved, we will refrain from commenting any further. This does not impact the show.”
As of this writing, the civil case against Hansen is making its way through the Washington courts, and currently, a Court of Appeals is considering whether or not to allow Eckstrom’s case against the Deadliest Catch star to move forward.
Editor’s note: Hansen’s representatives reached out to the Inquisitr’s editors with the following statement.
“I’m a pretty plain-spoken guy, and to me, this is nothing more than a shakedown. The allegations are completely false, rehashed lies my ex-wife Lisa Eckstrom used nearly 30 years ago to take away my daughter, and has continued to try to use to extort money from me.
The fact is, decades ago I was exonerated of these allegations after a full court trial. My ex-wife Lisa took me – and worst of all, my parents – to court for this back in 1990, making these baseless claims. We were fully exonerated after a prosecuting attorney, a judge, court-appointed experts, a guardian ad litem and team of other child experts all agreed that these claims were pure fiction. I cooperated 100 percent, including taking a polygraph test that also confirmed my innocence.
The tragedy is that my ex-wife Lisa has poisoned my relationship with our daughter through years of vile lies. Lisa has spun a web of deceit, depriving my daughter and me of a healthy, loving relationship. To me, that is the definition of child abuse.
This is the third time the Eckstrom family has threatened to publicly rehash lies about me unless I pay them a pile of money, and I finally said enough is enough. If you’ve got something, bring it, because it was BS then, and it is BS now.”
[Featured Image by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images]
