Former YDC staffer Frank Davis is named as an abuser by 114 different people from 1972 to 1999 — more than any other former staffer named in the lawsuits. He was one of the 11 former employees facing criminal charges. However, a judge dismissed the charges against Davis after he was found not competent to stand trial.
Lucien Poulette is another former staffer facing criminal charges for rape. The earliest allegation against him comes from Jane Doe #79, who claims that in 1977, she was sent to YDC for running away from home – to escape Poulette.
“Plaintiff ran away from home to escape her sexually abusive babysitter, Lucien Poulette.”
Another plaintiff, John Doe #250, says he was also abused by Poulette thirty years later, in 2007.
“Staff member Lucien Poulette anally and orally raped Plaintiff.”
In total, 100 people name Lucien Poulette as an abuser, the second-most of any former YDC employee accused of abuse. Poulette has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges. He declined comment for this story through his attorney.
Another former staffer now cooperating with attorneys for the alleged victims, known pseudonymously in court documents as Bonnie Boe, says Frank Davis and Lucien Poulette were among a group of “violent” YDC staff who intimidated well-meaning employees into silence and inaction.
According to court documents filed by lawyers representing the alleged victims, Boe spent at least part of her employment at YDC in the 1990s and witnessed rampant abuse by her coworkers. Her account includes staff beating children “until blood was everywhere,” an employee who routinely masturbated at his work station where residents and other staff could see, and superiors instructing her to falsify records.
Boe claims that after filing repeated complaints with YDC management, her colleagues retaliated against her.
According to Boe, she left work at YDC one day to find her truck “spray-painted with the words “N**** Lover!” Boe’s partner was a person of color, according to the court document.
In another instance, Boe claims other YDC staff removed the lug nuts from her truck, “causing the wheels to fall off” as she drove. This incident is corroborated by an internal YDC memo.
Nine former staff now face criminal charges, including Poulette, Jeffrey Buskey, Stephen Murphy, Bradley Asbury, James Woodlock, Trevor Middleton, Jonathan Tracy Brand, Stanley Watson, and Victor Malavet. Former YDC staffer Gordon Thomas Searles died while awaiting trial. Another former staffer, Kirstie Bean, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a teenager and telling him to lie to police about it in 2018.
However, they make up just a fraction of the more than 300 alleged abusers named in the lawsuits. Our analysis shows at least 54 alleged abusers have been accused by five or more different plaintiffs.
According to an analysis by the Associated Press, there are more than 200 allegations of abuse that could be eligible for criminal prosecution because they fall within New Hampshire's statute of limitations for sexual assaults involving children.
Credits
Written by Jason Moon. Design and Development by Russell Samora. Story editing by Katie Colaneri. Visual editing by Alvin Chang and Jan Diehm. Illustrations by Julia Louise Pereira. Fact-checking by Dania Suleman.
This story was supported with funding from the Data-Driven Reporting Project. The Data-Driven Reporting Project is funded by the Google News Initiative in partnership with Northwestern University | Medill.
