By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
YDC sexual abuse survivor Natasha Maunsell is getting $4.5 million from the state in a settlement finalized weeks before her civil trial was set to begin.
Maunsell claims that she was raped dozens of times by Youth Development Services Unit staffer Victor Malavet starting in 2001 when she was 15.
Malavet, 62, is charged with several felonies for the alleged abuse, but the first trial last year ended in a hung jury. A new criminal trial against Malavet is in the works.
The settlement, to be paid in the next 30 days, came with an apology, according to her attorneys David Vicinanzo and Rus Rilee. That act of decency sold Maunsell on the settlement, similar to the $10 million settlement reached with YDC survivor Michael Gilpatrick after he got an apology.
“The personal apology to Ms. Maunsell by the Associate Attorney General also played a role. This simple act of decency softened Ms. Maunsell’s anger at the State’s conduct and helped her to a modest but sufficient resolution,” the lawyers said in a statement.
Maunsell’s story is illustrative of the YDC abuse scandal, as the adults in charge of children ignored red flags, and helped cover up abuse despite clear evidence, according to Vicinanzo and Rilee. During the time she was getting regularly raped by Malavet, Maunsell contracted an STD, the lawyers said, which was ignored by state employees.
“[N]either the nursing staff nor any staffer inquired or investigated how she could have been infected despite having no contact with the outside world for months,” Rilee and Vicinanzo state.
In fact, staffers who did see warning signs that Malavet was abusing Maunsell kept silent for fear of retaliation, the lawyers said. While Malavet was working in the YDSU, he was supervised by Lamont Hicks, another staffer whose been accused of raping girls in numerous lawsuits.
“Perhaps not surprisingly, Hicks gave Malavet high marks on his quarterly evaluations,” the lawyers said.
When Malavet’s alleged abuse became too well known inside the facility, YDSU finally called in fellow staffer Earl Gage to investigate. That’s despite the fact YDSU policy required a State Police investigation. And in keeping with the ethos of corruption and coverup allegedly rampant inside the facility, Gage himself is accused having raped another girl in state custody during the time he was investigating Malavet.
In the Gage case the victim got pregnant and other YDSU staffers brought her for an abortion, according to Rilee and Vicinanzo. Gage then continued to rape the girl, according to the lawyers.
Gage’s investigation into Malavet resulted in Malavet getting transferred to the Youth Development Center where he supervised more children in a different facility. He worked there for five years and later went on to become a police officer.
Rilee and Vicinanzo say Maunsell could have easily obtained $15 to $25 million in damages, proving the state acted wantonly and maliciously. Instead, she decided to settle and end the stress of having to relive the trauma through the civil trial.
“[W]hile her trauma can never fully be healed, the compensation was sufficient to make her and her children financially secure without the stress or delay of further litigation,” the lawyers said.