South Jersey man gets $750K verdict in 30-year-old sex abuse case
A jury last week issued a $750,000 verdict in favor of a survivor of child sex abuse.
The victim, who was 14 and 15 years old at the time, was sexually abused in 1994 by a counselor at a state-run facility in Salem County for troubled teens.
The lead attorney for the victim called it “an appalling case of a child being targeted, groomed and preyed upon by the person sworn to protect him.”
Lesley O’Neill, of Pfau Cochran Vertetis Amara PLLC, said several employees were aware the teen was being abused, but the state did nothing to stop it.
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The suit, which named the state, the county and the state’s Human Services Division as defendants, was first filed in 1999. The four-day trial wrapped up March 21.
Here are four fast facts about the case:
The victim was in a Juveniles In Need of Supervision program facility in Woodstown after running away from home to escape abuse by his adoptive father.
A 40-year-old counselor at the facility reportedly subjected the teen to “numerous instances of sexual abuse,” the law firm said.
The man, now 45, had been abandoned by his mother as an infant and spent time in the state’s foster care system.
The case was filed under New Jersey’s Child Victims Act, which temporarily extends the statute of limitations for survivors to file civil claims.
“Too often we see the people and institutions who enabled child sex abuse being able to avoid accountability for their actions,” said Jay Mascolo, lead attorney for the teen at Rebenack Aronow Mascolo LLP. “That did not happen in Salem County … The verdict will allow our client to finally lay to rest one of the worst experiences of his life.”
This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: South Jersey man gets $750,000 award in decades-old sex abuse case
