New Hampshire settles second youth center abuse case for $4.5M
[April 24, 2025]
By HOLLY RAMER
CONCORD,
N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire has agreed to pay $4.5 million to a woman who
accused a youth detention center staffer of raping her in storage closet
just before he handed out candy to other children as a reward for good
behavior.
Natasha
Maunsell, 39, was in her mid-teens when she was held at the Youth
Detention Services Unit in Concord in 2001 and 2002. She sued the state
in 2021, and her case was set to go to trial next month, but the parties
reached a settlement, her lawyer said Wednesday.
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Natasha Maunsell sits in Merrimack County Superior Court in Concord, N.H.,
on Aug. 27, 2024, during a break in her testimony against Victor Malavet,
a former youth detention center staffer charged with sexually assaulting
her in 2001. The Associated Press does not typically name those who say
they were sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly as
Maunsell has done. (AP Photo/Holly Ramer, File)
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The staffer she accused, Victor Malavet, was charged with 12
counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault against Maunsell
after the state launched a broad criminal investigation in 2019.
His second trial is scheduled for June after an earlier trial
ended with a hung jury in September.
More than 1,300 people have sued the state since 2020 alleging
that they were physically or sexually abused in state custody as
children, most at the Sununu Youth Services Center in
Manchester. Only one case has gone to trial, resulting in a $38
million verdict, though the state is trying to slash it to
$475,000. Another case recently was settled for $10 million.
Many alleged victims have submitted claims via an alternative
state settlement fund where payouts are capped at $2.5 million,
but roughly 800 cases are still pending in court.
The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say
they’ve been sexually assaulted unless they come forward
publicly, as Maunsell did.
“I think that strength can be derived from even the darkest
moments, and I feel like anybody who has experienced what I
have, they don’t need to be crippled by it,” she said in a 2021
interview. “They can certainly still have hope.”
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