By Jim Hannah
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COVINGTON - An exotic dancer who was kidnapped, raped and left for dead in a snow bank by a cab driver has sued the taxi company for hiring a convicted felon.

The lawsuit claims Northern Kentucky's largest taxi operator, Community Cab Co. of Elsmere, had negligent hiring and retention practices and is seeking unspecified damages. A jury is scheduled to hear the case in Kenton Circuit Court starting June 2.

Other defendants are the former owner of the company, Yellow Cab of Newport, and Northern Kentucky Management. The Enquirer is not naming the plaintiff in the case because she was a victim of rape.

The cab driver, Edward Sanford, was issued an occupational license and hired, as an independent contractor, by the cab company in 1992. It was one of his first jobs after being released from state prison, where he served a five-year sentence for robbing and beating a woman walking across the Roebling Suspension Bridge on her way home from work.

"Community Cab had no reason to believe there was a problem with Ed Sanford," said attorney Stacey Graus, who is representing Community Cab Co. "Community Cab didn't hire this guy. Community Cab inherited him after purchasing the assets of Yellow Cab just 22 days before the attack."

He said even the city of Newport, which runs background checks on those applying for cab licenses, found no reason why Sanford shouldn't have been behind the wheel of a taxi.

On a snowy January morning in 2002, Sanford picked up the plaintiff in front of a dance club in Newport. Instead of taking her home, he drove her to a dead end on a remote Campbell County road. He slit her throat before dumping her on the side of the road.

The woman walked in the 5-degree temperature to a home for help.

Sanford later confessed to the crime and is serving a 25-year sentence at Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex in West Liberty.

Douglas A. Trulock, a former executive at the cab company, is to testify for the victim. Trulock, who is suing the company for wrongful termination, claims he was fired a month after the attack in part because he tried to implement a new hiring system for drivers to reduce the company's liability premiums.

That system required thorough criminal and driving background checks on potential new drivers, according to Trulock's suit. He claims the company resisted this change because the checks were taking too much time and caused undue delays in hiring.

Graus said Trulock is a disgruntled employee who conjured up this theory to help his own lawsuit.

E-mail jhannah@enquirer.com