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Photo courtesy of Oregon Youth AuthorityA series of federal civil rights lawsuits filed Sept. 18 in U.S. District Court brought forward new allegations of staff at the Oregon Youth Authority sexually abusing teenagers and young adults in custody, Conrad Wilson of Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.The new allegations raise the number of young people claiming they were sexually abused while in Oregon's juvenile detention system from three to six. Youth convicted of serious crimes before turning 18 serve their sentences at Oregon Youth Authority facilities, which can incarcerate children as young as 12 and hold them until they are 24. Some are later transferred to the state prison system. According to the lawsuits, the abuse took place between 2019 and 2023 at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn and the Oak Creek Youth Correctional Facility in Albany. The lawsuits identify four former staff members accused of sexual abuse, while 11 others are named for failing to report or prevent the misconduct. "I would consider this widespread sexual abuse," said Norah Van Dusen, one of the attorneys representing the six individuals suing Oregon’s juvenile detention agency in an interview with OPB. "I do not think these are isolated incidents. This appears to be just the tip of the iceberg." To date, two former Oregon Youth Authority employees named in the lawsuits have also faced criminal charges. Regardless of the age of those in custody, it is illegal for staff working in correctional facilities to engage in relationships with detainees, due in part to the power imbalance between staff and individuals convicted or accused of crimes. A.G., identified in court documents by her initials, claims that in 2021, she was groomed and later sexually abused by Craft at the Oak Creek Youth Correctional Facility in Albany. She was 17 years old when she arrived at the facility in 2018. Craft began working as a “group life coordinator” and part of the security staff in 2021 and began to engage A.G. in “inappropriate sexual conversations” that the lawsuit alleges were designed to groom her for a sexual relationship.A.G. said the culture normalizes close relationships between staff and the youth being held there, making it easier for abuse like this to happen. “It’s really expected for you to be close with at least one staff there,” she said. adding that it took her years to realize she was abused and later reported the incident herself after she left Oak Creek. “I don’t want any of the 14, 15, 16-year-old girls and boys that are getting locked up to deal with people taking advantage of their naivete,” A.G. told OPB. “I want people to acknowledge that this is a big enough issue and actually try and do something about it.” Another former Oregon Youth Authority social worker, Emily Echtenkamp, is named in three of the civil rights lawsuits, and was also arrested and charged with custodial sexual misconduct in December. According to the lawsuits, Echtenkamp “targeted” two teens who she knew were already victims of childhood sexual abuse identified in lawsuits refiled Wednesday by their initials A.A. and S.Q. Two other former staff members, Amira Andrade and Cherie MacDougall, were also accused in the lawsuits of sexual abuse. According to one of the complaints, MacDougall allegedly told 21-year-old D.H. “You know what I can do to you,” which he understood to mean she would “get him in trouble if he told anyone about the sexual abuse.” He believed that could potentially result in a significantly longer sentence. A separate complaint alleges MacDougall had a sexual relationship with O.G. when he was 15 years old, living in a unit at MacLaren for youth struggling with substance use. MacDougall “plied with drugs despite knowing … that he needed to demonstrate sobriety in order to earn parole,” the lawsuit said. O.G. began failing drug tests, repeatedly extending his sentence. The lawsuits also fault numerous supervisors and colleagues, who were allegedly aware of numerous sexual relationships as well as the vulnerability of the youth in their care. This article comes courtesy of Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.

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Oregon Youth Authority Lawsuit: More Abuse Allegations Emerge

DOJ: FBI Still Slow To Investigate Child Abuse After Larry Nassar Scandal & Settlement

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