By Mike McAndrew
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Niagara Falls’ biggest nonprofit human services agency was sued this week by a man who alleges he was sexually abused when he was 4 years old by two juveniles in the agency’s building. The alleged abuse happened 39 years ago, in 1980, at the Community Missions of Niagara Frontier building.
Two strangers in a Community Missions program for children in the juvenile justice system allegedly lured the boy to the basement of the agency’s building and sexually assaulted him there, said Jon Louis Wilson, the attorney who filed the Child Victims Act lawsuit.
“They were discovered by, I believe, by a staff member of the Mission,” Wilson said of how his client escaped.
The plaintiff, who was not identified, had been brought to the building by his parents.
Wilson said the boy’s parents learned what had happened, but the plaintiff does not believe the incident was reported to police and no one has been prosecuted.
“In this case, negligence was on part of staff members allowing a prepubescent child to be lured into a basement laundry room and victimized by two residents of the facility,” Wilson said. “If they’re there because they are involved in the juvenile justice system, there should be adequate staff members to oversee their activities and prevent them from getting into trouble, and clearly that did not happen here.”
He said the full names of the juveniles involved in the alleged assault are not known by the plaintiff, who is 43 years old.
Robyn Krueger, the CEO of Community Missions, said the agency has not been served with the lawsuit yet.
“As far as we are concerned there is no lawsuit,” she said.
Community Missions runs programs for youth, adults, families, homeless people, youth involved with the juvenile justice system, youth and adults with psychiatric challenges, persons living with HIV/AIDS, trafficked youth and adults and ex-offender parole individuals, according to its website.
Saturday, 09/21/2019 Pag.B12
Copyright (c)2019 Buffalo News, Edition 9/22/2019