Concord Monitor – Documents Declassified in YDC Criminal Harassment Cases Provide New Insight into Investigation

Documents released earlier this week in criminal cases against five former Youth Development Center guards describe in gruesome detail the repeated sexual and physical abuse inflicted on minors held at a New Hampshire juvenile detention center in the late 1990s.

The documents – arrest affidavits issued in response to a motion filed by lawyers for David Meehan, the first survivor to take the case to civil court – detail an extensive investigation by New Hampshire State Police from 2017 until the men’s arrest in 2021.

The arrest affidavits include detailed interviews by law enforcement with five minors who allege abuse, including Meehan. In total, nearly 1,300 people have filed lawsuits alleging abuse while detained at YDC between 1960 and 2021, according to an analysis by NHPR and The Pudding.

The documents show that by spring 2021, more than 180 interviews had been conducted with accused perpetrators, victims and witnesses.

Eleven former employees have been charged with criminal offences, with one pleading guilty and another found incompetent to stand trial. Charges against the remaining nine remain pending, with the earliest trial date set for September this year.

Earlier this month, Hillsborough County Judge William Delker ordered the public release of 61 documents that were originally filed sealed. Although access to all documents was restricted on the court’s website, Meehan’s lawyers released some of the unsealed documents.

Interviews with former YDC residents describe how a “hit squad” of guards terrorized them with repeated sexual assaults and beatings, and forced them into solitary confinement for periods of up to almost two months.

Meehan told investigators that from 1995 to 1999 he was sexually abused – sometimes almost daily – while at YDC.

Another man, who was sent to YDC in 1997 at the age of 14, told an investigator that two guards raped him while two other workers held him down. The guards who allegedly raped him – Stephen Murphy and Jeffrey Buskey – and the guards who allegedly held him captive – Bradley Asbury and James Woodlock – were charged with the crime.

A woman sent to YDC in 1996 at age 14 told an investigator that Buskey forced her to perform sexual acts on him.

The release of the arrest affidavits comes as Meehan’s lawyers argue with the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office over how much compensation he should receive. After the jury found the state liable and awarded Meehan $38 million in damages, the state argued that the damages should instead be limited to $475,000 because the jury wrote on its verdict sheet that he only one “incident”. During Monday’s hearing, the case was the subject of serious dispute.

Meanwhile, criminal cases are still pending. Of the nine men whose cases are pending, five live in the Concord area:

Bradley Asbury, 69, of Dunbarton, has been charged with two counts of accessory to criminal sexual assault for restraining a resident while two guards sexually assaulted him between October 1997 and June 1998. Asbury’s Trial ego is scheduled to start on November 18.

■Gordon Thomas Searles, 68, from Weare, was charged with four counts of serious sexual offenses which allegedly occurred in 1995. Searles’ trial is scheduled to begin on September 23.

Jonathan Brand, 59, of Concord, has been charged with three counts of criminal sexual assault that allegedly occurred in 2007 and 2010. The first of Brand’s two scheduled trials is scheduled to begin in March 2025.

Trevor Middleton, 55, of Belmont, was charged with one count of criminal sexual assault and one count of aggravated sexual assault, which allegedly occurred between 1999 and 2001. Middleton’s trial is scheduled to begin in January 2025.

Jeremy Margolis can be reached at [email protected].