Six distinct lawsuits list a total of 16 former and present staff members of the Oregon Youth Authority (OYA) as defendants, alleging sexual abuse and wrongdoing at two separate Oregon Youth Correctional facilities.
The complaints assert that sexual abuse was perpetrated by three former OYA workers, while also claiming that their current bosses should have been cognizant of the abuse and taken measures to prevent it.
Norah Van Dusen, an attorney at Levi Merrithew Horst PC, which filed all six lawsuits, stated, “We contend that this issue is prevalent, extending beyond the staff accused of sexually abusing these youths, indicating a systemic problem that is significantly more extensive than merely these six cases.”
Three new cases were filed on September 18. One instance of sexual abuse against a 15-year-old male occurred at the McLaren Youth Correctional Facility near Woodburn. The second case claims the sexual assault of a 21-year-old male imprisoned at McLaren. The third lawsuit claims sexual assault of a 20-year-old woman at the Oak Creek Youth Correctional Facility in Albany.
The three defendants charged with directly participating in sexual actions with the plaintiffs are Emily Echtencamp, Travis Craft, and Cherie MacDougall.
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OYA stated in a written declaration that all three individuals were placed on administrative leave immediately upon the filing of sexual abuse charges and the initiation of an inquiry. Subsequently, all three resigned from their posts, and OYA submitted the inquiry to the Oregon State Police.
“The conduct alleged runs completely against our values and commitments to our youth, as reflected by our 100% success rate in independent PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act) audits over the last two years,” William Howell, a spokesperson for OYA wrote in a press release. “We will continue to offer multiple avenues for our youth to report violations, and to encourage reporting. We will continue to swiftly investigate, and take decisive action when individuals undermine our work.”
Van Dusen stated that irrespective of the victims’ ages and circumstances, each case is as grave and constitutes an instance of sexual abuse.
“It’s really important to emphasize again that any sexual contact between staff and youth constitutes abuse and that there is no gray area there. There are no exceptions to that,” she said. “Often youth who are sexually abused, especially in institutional settings, may not recognize that what has happened to them is abuse until some time afterward. We encourage anyone who has been abused to come forward and we again want to recognize how much courage it has taken for each of these plaintiffs to come forward and speak out about their experiences.”
