Ex-youth detention center counselor faces sex assault trial in New Hampshire

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — A sexual assault trial starts Monday for a New Hampshire man whose arrest more than seven years ago kicked off one of the biggest youth detention scandals in U.S. history.

Former youth counselor Jeffrey Buskey, 60, of Litchfield, faces allegations involving four boys held at the Youth Development Center in Manchester in the late 1990s. In the first of his cases to go to trial, he is charged with 21 counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault involving David Meehan, who was 14 when he arrived at the facility now called the Sununu Youth Services Center in 1995.

Meehan filed the first of more than 1,100 lawsuits alleging physical, sexual or emotional abuse spanning six decades. His allegations led to the arrest of Buskey and another former worker in 2019, an unprecedented criminal investigation , nine additional arrests , and the establishment of a settlement fund to compensate victims.

During his civil trial , Meehan described Buskey's transformation from trusted father figure to horrific abuser, testifying that he gave him soda and snacks and let him play basketball with a local high school team before subjecting him to near daily rapes.

“It went from being somebody I trusted, that I thought was not just there to help me, but somebody I thought cared for me, to hurt,” he said.

The Associated Press generally does not identify those who say they were victims of sexual assault unless they have come forward publicly, as Meehan has done. A jury awarded him $38 million in May of 2024, though that verdict remains in dispute as the state seeks to reduce the amount to $475,000.

In a police interview transcript recently filed in court, Buskey couldn’t remember his home address from the 1990s and struggled to spell his then-fiancée’s last name, but brought up Meehan’s name unprompted. He denied abusing him, saying they had a “great relationship.”

“I was always nice to the kid, I was always trying to help him," he said.

The youth center, which once housed upward of 100 children but now typically serves fewer than a dozen, is named for former Gov. John H. Sununu. Lawmakers have approved closing the facility, which now only houses those accused or convicted of the most serious violent crimes, and replacing it with a much smaller building in a new location.

In the other criminal cases, three men have been convicted: Bradley Asbury , Stanley Watson and James Woodlock . Jurors acquitted Jonathan Brand and deadlocked in the case of Victor Malavet , leading to a mistrial. Charges were dropped against Trevor Middleton; Frank Davis was declared incompetent to stand trial, and Gordon Searles died while awaiting trial. Stephen Murphy , who has pending charges, had one trial end in mistrial and another end with an acquittal on three charges and a hung jury on five others. Lucien Poulette is awaiting trial.