BENTON, Ark. (Legal Newsline) - A youth residential facility in Arkansas faces a civil lawsuit brought by eight individuals accusing staff there of sexual abuse.
A lawsuit was filed in the Circuit Court of Saline County on Jan. 9 against Mentor ABI, LLC (doing business as Timber Ridge Ranch), National Mentor Holdings, Inc., Timber Ridge Group, LLC and several individuals acting as agents of these companies.
The complaint makes many disturbing allegations about the staff at Timber Ridge, located in Benton.
One plaintiff, Lake Hudson, entered the facility in 2002 for treatment of neurological and behavioral disorders but the complaint says his stay was a nightmare from the very start.
On the first day, he and others were taken to a pond and made to strip, "at which point, the Unknown Defendant would stand behind each of the juveniles and rest his head on their shoulders while fondling their genitals."
Staff continued to torture Hudson by placing him in containment holds and pulling him out of bed in the middle of the night for manual labor, the suit says, while preventing him from speaking to visitors.
Hudson even reported the abuse but his entire cabin was punished, he says.
Employee Ramon Moore is accused of raping a female plaintiff in the lawsuit. Hudson says his mother came to visit him, but Moore placed him in a hold so he could not contact her.
"Luke Hudson tried to escape the containment hold and was subsequently taken to the ground by... Moore," the suit says.
"Moore took off Luke Hudson's pants and penetrated Luke Hudson's anus with the defendant's thumb while simultaneously grabbing Luke Hudson's testis."
Several lawyers are representing the plaintiffs, including Paul Byrd of Little Rock.