By Ivan Pereira
Maureen St. Guillen filed a negligence suit in Brooklyn federal court last Thursday seeking at least $200 million in damages for the 2006 murder of her daughter, Imette St. Guillen. The lawsuit claims that Darryl Littlejohn, the former bouncer arrested in connection with the slaying, was not monitored well after his 2004 parole from a robbery conviction, leading to the Boston native's death.”The suit is not about the money. It's about holding parties in Imette's death responsible,” said Joseph Tacopina, Maureen St. Guillen's attorney.Bob Nardoza, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn, declined to comment on the lawsuit.Imette St. Guillen was found bound and dead in a remote area of Brooklyn on Feb. 25, 2006, after she was reported missing following a night out at the Falls, a SoHo bar. Police later tracked animal hair and carpet fibers to Littlejohn, 43, of 121st Avenue in South Jamaica, who worked as a bouncer at the bar.The suit claims the federal government failed to supervise Littlejohn even though he was declared a “menace to society” following his 41-month prison sentence for a 1999 bank-robbery charge. It also cited a statement by Tony Garoppolo, chief probation officer in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, admitting his agency did not know Littlejohn required supervision because of an “error in the system.””Had he been supervised properly he wouldn't have murdered at all. He fell out of the system, they committed a administrative mistake,” Tacopina said.Police also said Littlejohn made a phone call from his cell phone near the area where Imette St. Guillen's body was found shortly before investigators discovered the body of the graduate student.Littlejohn was arraigned on a first degree murder charge a month later in Brooklyn. He was also arraigned in Queens Criminal Court in April 2006 on kidnapping, robbery, criminal impersonation and assault charges for allegedly posing as a law enforcement officer, manacling a York College student, forcing her into a van and beating her in October 2005.He pled not guilty to all charges and was pending trial for both cases.Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
