A Staten Island teen was allegedly raped dozens of occasions by his feminine counselor — often known as “Big Foot” — at an upstate juvenile detention facility, whereas staffers joked about it, he claimed in a lawsuit.
The sufferer, now 21, was simply 17 in 2021 when he was despatched to Brookwood Youth Facility, about 45 minutes south of Albany, and first encountered affiliate psychologist Maya Hayes, who held frequent counseling periods with him in her non-public workplace, in accordance with the litigation.
The sexual abuse started about three months after the accuser, whose identify is being withheld by The Submit, arrived, the swimsuit claims. It didn’t finish till he had been raped greater than 30 occasions, 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 mentioned in court docket 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 teenager alleged.
Employees apparently knew what was happening.
“Are you doing things with Big Foot?” employees requested the teenager, in accordance with the Brooklyn Federal Courtroom submitting. “We see you in there with Dr. Hayes doing nasty stuff,” they allegedly advised him.
It’s unclear why Hayes was known as “Big Foot.”
Hayes advised the teenager that she dreamed about him, and that she “had a previous guy inside Brookwood” who resembled the sufferer and “broke her heart,” the swimsuit claimed.
The counselor even conned the sufferer’s mother and father into sending $100 funds to her CashApp, ostensibly to pay for his meals and hygiene merchandise, in accordance with the lawsuit
New York State Police arrested Hayes in April on 65 counts of prison sexual act within the third diploma and rape. She pleaded not responsible, and was launched. The case is pending.
The teenager is suing Hayes and a dozen different Brookwood staffers for unspecified damages for failing to cease 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 teenager mentioned in an announcement.
“The responsibility lies with New York State employees who knew the sexual abuse was happening and enabled it,” mentioned the teenager’s lawyer, Evan Brustein, who’s representing 4 different victims who mentioned they had been abused by Hayes.
A lawyer for Hayes didn’t instantly reply to a message searching for remark.
