Violent trans sex offender sues Missouri jail, claims 'mistreatment' for being denied access to women's panties, sex change

A violent trans-identified male sex offender has filed multiple lawsuits against staff members at Missouri’s St. Francois County Jail and South Missouri Mental Health Center alleging various forms of mistreatment, including being denied "gender-affirming" items such as women’s undergarments.

Kelly McSean, born Larry Bemboon, is in custody awaiting trial after escaping the jail he was placed in for attacking sex offender treatment staff, Anna Slatz for Reduxx reports.

In 2003, while still living as Larry, McSean pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 39-year-old African American woman. He reportedly offered to give her a ride back to her home, but instead took her back to his place and raped her, during which he made racially degrading remarks including telling her that his ancestors were slave owners.

The woman managed to escape from his residence, and McSean was sentenced to just five years in prison. McSean was scheduled to be released in 008, but a prison psychiatrist reported that he met the definition of being a sexually violent predator. A second psychiatrist concurred with this, and the state of Missouri filed a petition to involuntarily commit McSean to the state’s Sex Offender Rehabilitation and Treatment Service program.

A jury trial found that he met the legal requirements for commitment, and McSean was sent to the Sex Offender Rehabilitation and Treatment Program (SORTS) in Farmington.

McSean attempted to appeal the designation, but the appeal was denied in 2010. He has remained in civil commitment since then. According to Reduxx, McSean began identifying as transgender sometime between 2010 and 2023.

While in the SORTS facility, McSean allegedly attacked a treatment worker, and was transferred to St. Francois County Jail to await trial.

McSean and four other inmates escaped the jail on January 17, 2023 through a plumbing access hole, and the missing inmates weren’t discovered until a routine inmate count, as the cameras that would have captured there escape were down due to construction work.

McSean was arrested three days later and returned to the jail. Over the course of the past five months, McSean has launched a number of lawsuits against staff at the jail and Southern Missouri Mental Health Center. 

According to the outlet, the majority of McSean’s complaints stem from being denied "gender-affirming" items and treatments, such as women’s undergarments. McSean has taken issue with being treated as male despite documentation listing him as female, and says he has been "misgendered" and "demeaned."

McSean claimed he was "sexually assaulted" during a strip search, claiming he was "humiliated due to the fact that this was also done in the presents [sic] of and done by those of the opposite sex," and that his "breasts" were exposed to the male inmates and officers searching him.

McSean alleges that these "mistreatments" have caused anxiety, high blood pressure, nightmares, migraines, a loss of appetite, crying spells, and more psychological and physical issues.

"He has requested damages ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 per defendant and per concern. In one of the filed complaints alone, the total requested damages exceed $14,900,000," Reduxx reports.

One of the complaints filed by McSean suggests that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has intervened on his behalf in at least one of the cases.

One complaint submitted in August read: "After being informed that the ACLU and an attorney has contacted the St. Francois county detention center of [sic] the constitutional rights of transgender persons, I submitted an inmate request form as to the status of ability to purchase and have female undergarments."

McSean has a criminal history spanning back to his childhood.

According to the evaluation of the psychologist who determined he was a sexually violent predator, McSean molested an 8-year-old girl at the age of 13 and forced her to perform oral sex on him. McSean also molested and had oral sex with a 12-year-old boy. 

McSean was sent to counseling the following year after he was found attempting to solicit other boys to perform oral sex on him in the school bathroom.

At the age of 15, McSean was placed in sex offender treatment after exposing himself to a younger relative, and while in treatment he molested another underage girl.

Between the ages of 19 and 30, Reduxx reports that McSean committed several more sex offenses, many of which were against minors.

He told the psychologist that he repeatedly raped a 16-year-old girl in 1995, also engaging in oral sex with the girl’s 11-year-old brother. In 1998, McSean said that he moved in with two girls aged 14 and 16, raped a 15-year-old girl, and molested a 14-year-old.

McSean was arrested at the age of 30 after giving a 12-year-old girl marijuana and sodomizing her. He received a suspended five-year sentence and three years of probation for the act.

According to Reduxx, "McSean said that while in the community, he committed a number of sexual assaults for which he was never charged, including molesting children as young as 8 at the Salvation Army, and raping unidentified male and female children."

In 2003, before the rape of the 39-year-old woman, McSean admitted to kidnapping two teenagers and forcing them to perform oral sex on him at his residence where he was holding them captive, and at around the same time, McSean said he molested a younger female relative and threatened to kill her if she spoke out.