NYC teen raped more than 30 times by female shrink known as ‘Big Foot’ at juvie jail: lawsuit
A Staten Island teen was allegedly raped dozens of times by his female counselor — known as“Big Foot” — at an upstate juvenile detention facility, while staffers joked about it, he claimed in a lawsuit.
The sexual abuse began about three months after the accuser, whose name is being withheld by The Post, arrived, the suit claims. It didn’t end until he had been raped more than 30 times, he claimed.
Hayes, 47, allegedly “groomed and manipulated [the victim] into trusting that what she was doing had some basis in legitimate care and treatment. It did not,” he said in court papers.
Hayes “used and exploited her position of trust and authority . . . to her disgusting advantage and her own depraved benefit . . . to sexually abuse and exploit as many children as possible under the guise of performing routine and necessary counseling sessions,” the teen alleged.
Staff apparently knew what was going on.
“Are you doing things with Big Foot?” workers asked the teen, according to the Brooklyn Federal Court filing. “We see you in there with Dr. Hayes doing nasty stuff,” they allegedly told him.
It’s unclear why Hayes was called “Big Foot.”
Hayes told the teen that she dreamed about him, and that she “had a previous guy inside Brookwood” who resembled the victim and “broke her heart,” the suit claimed.
The counselor even conned the victim’s parents into sending $100 payments to her CashApp, ostensibly to pay for his food and hygiene products, according to the lawsuit
New York State Police arrested Hayes in April on 65 counts of criminal sexual act in the third degree and rape. She pleaded not guilty, and was released. The case is pending.
The teen is suing Hayes and a dozen other Brookwood staffers for unspecified damages for failing to stop the “depraved” abuse.
“When I was at Brookwood I was sexually assaulted for months by my psychologist while youth development specialists and administration knew and did nothing to stop it,” the teen said in a statement.
“The responsibility lies with New York State employees who knew the sexual abuse was happening and enabled it,” said the teen’s lawyer, Evan Brustein, who is representing four other victims who said they were abused by Hayes.
Man sexually abused stepdaughter for 10 years,
Illinois cops say. He’s prison-bound.
By Kate Linderman
March 27, 2025 1:29 PM|
A girl was sexually abused for about a decade by her stepfather, Illinois prosecutors said.
More than seventeen years after the alleged abuse ended, a convicted child sex offender has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, the Kendall County State’s Attorney’s Office said in a March 26 Facebook post.
McClatchy News is not naming the person convicted to protect the identity of the victim.
The Yorkville man pleaded guilty to predatory criminal sexual assault of a child in both Kendall and Kane County, prosecutors said. The alleged assaults took place in both counties, in Aurora and in unincorporated Kendall County, the post said.
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in each county, totaling a 20 year sentence to be served consecutively, officials said.
The sexual abuse began in the late 1990s, prosecutors said, and continued into 2007. For most of that time, authorities said she was younger than 13.
Prosecutors said an investigation opened in 2022 when the stepdaughter told police about the years of abuse she endured.
The stepfather was arrested in 2023 and has been in custody since, police said. Yorkville is about a 55-mile drive southwest from downtown Chicago.
Utah County Sheriff's Office issues rare rebuke of dismissed child sex abuse case
AMERICAN FORK — The Utah County Sheriff's Office says the fact that neither the victim nor investigators had a chance to testify in court before the charges accusing David Hamblin of sexually abusing a child were dismissed is "abhorrent."
In a rare public rebuke of a judge's decision, the sheriff's office issued a scathing statement Thursday regarding the recent dismissal of the criminal case involving the former therapist accused of "ritualistic sex abuse."
"This complete lack of due process resulting in the dismissal of heinous charges of sex abuse of a child based on an incomplete evidentiary picture is extremely concerning," the sheriff's office said.
Fourth District Judge Roger Griffin dismissed the charges in February but was still considering at that time whether to dismiss them with or without prejudice. Last week, he announced the charges would be dismissed with prejudice, meaning they cannot be refiled. Hamblin still faces six counts of sexual abuse of a child, a second-degree felony, in separate case in Sanpete County's 6th District Court.
In 2012, Hamblin was charged in Provo's 4th District Court with 18 first-degree felonies, including sodomy on a child, multiple counts of rape of a child, and aggravated sexual abuse of a child. The case was dismissed without prejudice in 2014.
In 2022, he was arrested again after a woman came forward and claimed Hamblin made her and two other children perform sex acts and then he would critique them.
"David Hamblin was a licensed therapist whose license was revoked by the state of Utah due to allegations that he was sexually abusing his client(s). Through this investigation, it has been reported that David continues to perform 'therapy' under the guise of 'healing circles,' and upon information and belief, the abuse may be ongoing," a police booking affidavit alleges.
In February, however, the state led by special assistant attorney general Nathan Evershed filed a motion for the case to be dismissed.
"The basis for this motion is primarily based upon evidentiary concerns which have emerged in the case. Additionally, discovery problems have persisted in this vast and extensive case, which is a secondary factor in this motion," according to the state's motion.
In their motion to have the case dismissed with prejudice, defense attorneys argued it took 2 1/2 years for exculpatory evidence to be turned over to them.
The sheriff's office, however, said Thursday it was "shocked" that the case was dismissed "on so-called 'discovery abuses.'
"The Utah County Sheriff's Office disputes several of the alleged facts that the court included as support for this outcome in its ruling and order. Contrary to that ruling, the sheriff's office timely provided prosecutors with all evidence related to this case so that they could disclose it under the rules of discovery in criminal cases," the sheriff's office continued.
The sheriff's office says it anticipated an evidentiary hearing would be held to settle these disputes.
"But a careful examination of all the court records will clearly show that at no time were investigators nor the victim given the opportunity to present any evidence to the court to refute the defense allegations of delay and improper withholding of evidence. An evidentiary hearing was never requested, and thus never occurred. Consequently, the court was left to adjudicate these issues based on a one-sided presentation of these issues by the defense," the sheriff's office stated.
The sheriff's office says it has other evidence refuting the notion it was trying to delay handing over evidence.
"The fact that the court dismissed with prejudice these charges against David Hamblin without one word of testimony from the victim or the investigators is abhorrent," it said.
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Anne Arundel sheriff’s deputy charged in child sex abuse case
An Anne Arundel County sheriff’s deputy is facing charges for allegedly sexually abusing a minor, according to the Anne Arundel County Sheriff’s Office.
Cpl. Anthony Nickoles, 42, was arrested Wednesday and charged with sexual abuse of a minor, two counts of third- and fourth-degree sexual offenses, and two counts of second-degree assault.
In response to the allegations, the Anne Arundel County sheriff released a statement.
“The actions of one individual do not reflect the dedication and professionalism of the men and women who serve our community with honor,” Sheriff Everett L. Sesker said. “We hold our personnel to the highest standards and will continue to cooperate fully with the investigation.”
References to several other cases of teachers and cops in Anne Arundel along with links to their stories can be found on The Baltimore Banner.
A former middle school counselor arrested for multiple aggravated sexual abuse cases filed in Washington County appeared this week for sentencing - where the judge said the defendant used his position of trust to hunt for his victims.
On Tuesday, David Scott Curtis, 55, appeared at the 5th District Court in St. George for a sentencing hearing after pleading guilty to nine first-degree felonies: six counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, two counts of forcible sodomy and one count of rape of a child.
Curtis originally faced 19 first-degree felony charges of sodomy and aggravated sexual abuse of a child in what would become five separate cases starting in March of last year following the defendant's arrest in Mesquite, Nevada.
As part of a global resolution, 12 first-degree charges were dismissed in exchange for the guilty pleas.
Defense attorney Christopher Salcido watching as Prosecutor Lane Wood addresses court involving 55-year-old David Scott Curtis, who is sentenced on nine first-degree felony charges during a hearing held at 5th District Court in St. George, Utah, March 25, 2025.
Curtis was extradited to Utah to face court proceedings in multiple cases involving crimes he reportedly committed over the course of decades while living in Washington County. Curtis was accused of engaging in this abuse while serving as Boy Scout leader, and numerous incidents are alleged to have occurred on his property.
In once(sic) cased filed in May 2024, Curtis sexually abused a child he was helping care for "hundreds of times," according to court documents, while another case opened two months earlier alleged that Curtis was sexually assaulting a child up util(sic) the day before his arrest at a middle school in March 2024, as previously reported by St. George News.
A summary of the cases can be found at this link.
Decades of abuse end in prison
During Tuesday's hearing, Prosecutor Lane Wood said the five cases comprised five victims and "decades" of abuse.
The state entered into the plea agreement that stipulated concurrent sentences, as opposed to consecutive sentences, partially due to the length of time that passed between when the molestations occurred and when the incidents were reported, Wood said.
Why is the state being nice to this monster who has probably abused dozens of kids hundreds, if not thousands of times? How fair is this to the victims, or does the state only care about treating the monsters fairly?
“Oftentimes, these cases become more difficult — with fading memories and so on,” the prosecutor said, adding that this factor would have made it difficult to take the cases to trial and more difficult for the victims who would have to testify in court.
Wood said the state talked at length with each of the victims and their families and "thoroughly" discussed the proposed agreement.
The defendant, 55-year-old David Scott Curtis, enters the courtroom to be sentenced on nine first-degree felony charges during a hearing held at 5th District Court in St. George, Utah, March 25, 2025.
Another reason for the global resolution is that Curtis is a suspect in a number of active investigations in other jurisdictions and out of state. Should the defendant be convicted in those cases, the prosecutor said, it would likely result in further prison time for Curtis.
While going over the presentence investigation report, Wood said Curtis' statements were “the most offensive defendant's statements I've ever seen."
Despited(sic) having pleaded guilty to the crimes, Curtis blames each of his victims, claiming he only allowed the abuse to happen.
In one of the cases, Wood said, Curtis denied sexually assaulting the child and told investigators he was in another state when it happened; yet he still pleaded guilty to the crime.
While the length of prison time is ultimately up to Board of Pardons and Parole, Wood said he hoped the presentence report would keep Curtis in prison “for the rest of his natural life.”
However, Curtis's defense attorney, Christopher Salcido, said he took issue with this report and the state's position.
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