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Dennis Bachman filed suit in Superior Court in December 2019, accusing a female counselor of sexually assaulting him at the former New Jersey Juveniles in Need of Supervision facility in Woodstown.
The alleged abuse occurred around 1994 when Bachman was 15 years old.
The lawsuit accused the county of failing to monitor the counselor’s behavior and failing to prevent the sexual assaults.
The lawsuit says the counselor "exploited the trust and authority vested in her" by "grooming (Dennis) to gain trust and to obtain control over him."
"Too often we see the people and institutions who enabled child sex abuse being able to avoid accountability for their actions," said Jay Mascolo, Bachman's attorney. "The verdict will allow our client to finally lay to rest one of the worst experiences of his life and we thank the court and jury for ensuring that justice was served.”
The counselor was never charged with any crimes. The youth center closed decades ago.
A spokeswoman for Salem County said that the county has no comment at this time.
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