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A Civil War reenactor in Tennessee is facing a $10.5 million lawsuit after exposing an alleged years-long affair between her reenactor husband and another woman in their traveling Civil War troupe, allegedly emailing explicit photos and videos of the two lovers to the rest of the members, who subsequently expelled the pair over their extramarital affair.
A civil complaint obtained by The Independent says Dr. Lisa Twark’s dissemination of the salacious material violated revenge porn laws, invaded her romantic rival’s privacy and caused her to suffer “mental injury, including but not limited to emotional distress, shame, depression, anxiety, and more.”
In the complaint, which was filed April 21 in a Knoxville, Tennessee, federal court, “Jane Doe,” who successfully petitioned the court for anonymity, claims Twark, a 54-year-old veterinarian in the rural town of Rogersville, discovered the racy snaps by installing spyware on her husband’s laptop. Twark, who tried but failed to conceal her own identity when she emailed the compromising images to more than 80 fellow Civil War reenactors, shared the pictures to exact retribution against both her husband and Doe over their clandestine romance, according to the complaint.
Twark did not respond on Thursday to emails, voicemails and text messages seeking comment. Doe and Twark’s husband were unable to be reached.
The “sexual relationship” between Doe and Twark’s husband, who is not identified by name in court filings, began in 2022, the complaint states. They knew each other from their participation in a Civil War reenactment group that, as the complaint explains, “traveled together and reenacted Civil War battles.” The complaint does not specify if Doe is married or single.
Over the course of their affair, Twark’s husband asked Doe to “provide him some explicit pictures,” which she later emailed to him, according to the complaint. It says Twark’s husband also “took explicit photographs and videos” of Doe, along with ribald pictures and footage or the two of them together, and emailed those to himself.
Everything was done with Doe’s knowledge and consent, the complaint continues.
Twark, who graduated from the Ohio State College of Veterinary Medicine in 1998 and has lived in Rogersville ever since, runs a local animal clinic called the Dog and Cat Depot.
“She enjoys spending quiet time at home with her husband and menagerie of animals, as well as hiking, traveling, and reading,” her official bio reads.
However, Twark eventually became suspicious of her spouse and “placed spyware on [his]... computer,” Doe’s complaint contends. Spyware is a type of malicious software that allows access to an electronic device without the user’s knowledge.
Last December, having gained access to her husband’s email account, Twark found the bawdy photos and videos her husband had taken of himself and Doe, as well as the ones Doe had taken of herself for him, the complaint reads.
An apparently irate Twark responded by emailing selections from the X-rated trove to at least 81 people, “including, but not limited to, reenactment group members,” according to the complaint. Twark sent the email from a Protonmail account, an encrypted service, “in an attempt to conceal [her] true identity,” the complaint alleges.
As a result, Doe and Twark’s husband “were removed from the reenactment group due to the email received by other members of the group,” the complaint states.
It does not say whether or not Twark herself remains a member.
Twark “created the email and shared these images and videos… for revenge” against her husband, and “to cause emotional distress” to Doe, the complaint asserts.
“Upon information and belief, [Twark] had access to numerous other explicit images” of her husband and Doe that she located among his emails, and also planned to distribute, but had not yet done so, according to the complaint.
In 2021, a love triangle-gone-wrong between three members of the broader live-action role playing community, known as LARPers, culminated in a pipe bomb attack and a slew of federal charges. Last year, as The Independent first reported, a Texas woman derailed her ex’s “dream job” by allegedly sending his new employer “sexually explicit” photos the man had shared with her during happier times.
Civil War Doe is seeking $7.5 million in liquidated damages for “unauthorized disclosures of intimate visual depictions” of her and Twark’s husband, compensatory damages of $1 million and punitive damages of $2 million, plus court costs and attorneys’ fees.
She is also asking a judge to issue an order prohibiting Twark from further sharing any of the offending material, an injunction forbidding her from liquidating or transferring any personal assets prior to the conclusion of the lawsuit, and to hand down a temporary restraining order barring Twark from contacting Doe, any associates or members of Doe’s family, and to stay at least 1,000 feet away from her.
English (US) ·