NEW HAMPSHIRE — A man’s arrest more than five years ago brought abuse claims at New Hampshire’s state-run youth detention center into the public eye. On Wednesday, the first of several sexual assault cases for that man began.
Stephen Murphy, 55, of Danvers, Massachusetts, used to work as a youth counselor. He is now facing 16 charges related to four boys who were held at the Youth Development Center in Manchester in the late 1990s. He is being charged with one count of aggravated felonious sexual assault because he is said to have raped a boy in a hallway while other workers held the boy down.
Michael Gilpatrick, who said Murphy held him down, has already talked about the claims twice: once in a civil case involving another former youth center resident and again in a criminal case for Brad Asbury. He said that Murphy, Asbury, and the others were like a “hit squad” that regularly scared kids.
He had said, “The four of them used to roll together.” “They would come over and beat all of us straight down the line, going door to door.”
Asbury, 70, was found guilty of two counts of helping to commit aggravated sexual abuse in November. He was named by prosecutors as a possible witness against Murphy, who has pleaded not guilty.
In July 2019, Murphy and another former employee were arrested and charged with sexually attacking David Meehan. Meehan later became the first of more than 1,100 former residents who have sued the state, saying they were abused physically, sexually, or emotionally over the course of 60 years.
Charles Keefe, Murphy’s lawyer, did not answer the phone Tuesday, but a past client said he has denied the claims against Meehan and “anything like them regarding anybody, no matter who the accuser might be or when it took place.”
At the same time that Murphy was being arrested, the office of the attorney general began a full investigation into the building, which is now known as the Sununu Youth Services Center. One man was charged but the charges were dropped because there wasn’t enough proof. Another man was found not to be able to stand trial, and a third man died while waiting to be tried. Murphy will be the fourth person to go to court.
This week, Stanley Watson was found guilty of three counts of aggravated sexual attack against two boys, along with Asbury. Another case that didn’t have a clear winner will likely be tried again later this year.
Murphy worked as a locker attendant for the Boston Red Sox before he was arrested. When the team found out about the accusations, it fired him. After working as a special education teacher and assistant high school basketball coach in Massachusetts, he got that job in 2007. This was based on an interview with the Lowell Sun in 2010.
The Associated Press doesn’t usually name people who say they were sexually assaulted unless they come forward in public, like Meehan and Gilpatrick. So far, only Meehan’s case has gone to trial in a civil case. His May verdict of $38 million is still being argued over because the state wants to lower the number to $475,000.
The youth center is named for former Gov. John H. Sununu. It used to house more than 100 kids, but now it mostly serves about 12 kids. Lawmakers have agreed to replace the building with a much smaller one in a different site. The current facility only houses people accused or convicted of the worst violent crimes.
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