How Could You? Hall of Shame-Theresa Gooch and Lawsuit UPDATED

By on 8-16-2013 in Abuse in group home, California, Children's Receiving Home, How could you? Hall of Shame, Theresa Gooch

How Could You? Hall of Shame-Theresa Gooch and Lawsuit UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Sacramento, California, Children’s Receiving Home counselor Theresa Gooch, 24, was arrested on August 14, 2013 for “multiple sexual offenses with a person under the age of 18.”

“An investigation by Sacramento police found Gooch developed a relationship with a 16-year-old girl client at the home, beginning in September 2012 and continuing until February 2013.

Gooch had been placed on administrative leave.
“Please let me stress that the person no longer works at the agency and we are cooperating with all the appropriate regulatory and law enforcement agencies to resolve this issue,” Children’s Receiving Home CEO David Ballard said.

Ballard said he could not answer any questions because the case is still being actively investigated.

Gooch is being held in the Sacramento County Jail for charges that include oral copulation, attempted oral copulation and molestation of a minor, police said.

Sacramento police detectives are urging anyone with information on the case to call them at (916) 264-5471.”

Sacramento Group home counselor accused of molesting client

[News 10 8/16/13 by David Marquis]

“Gooch was booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail, where she remained in custody Thursday night in lieu of more than $250,000 bail.”

“The investigation began after a relative of the victim came forward with the allegations, said city police Officer Doug Morse.Detectives allege that Gooch developed a relationship with the victim “to include inappropriate touching, which evolved into the victim agreeing to meet the suspect off campus, where additional inappropriate acts occurred,” Morse said.He said there are no indications of any other victims.”

“In an email to The Bee, a state Department of Social Services official said the department has issued an exclusion order to Gooch. Michael Weston, deputy DSS director of public affairs and outreach programs, said the order prohibits her from having any association with any facility licensed by the department.Attorney Stewart Katz, who is representing the victim, criticized those in charge of the Children’s Receiving Home. He alleged a mandatory reporter who works at the facility alerted officials to the inappropriate behavior at least twice before police were notified.”They were told it was going on and they dismissed it,” he said of officials at the home. “A lot of this conduct happened well after they had been advised.”

Katz said much of the molestation occurred at the suspect’s house — and that allowing the suspect to take the victim off campus was a violation of policy.

He said his client is back in the custody of her mother.

“Clearly this was a person who was in a vulnerable state,” Katz said. “This is a fairly immature 16-year-old.”

The Children’s Receiving Home is a privately run, nonprofit facility that most commonly houses children placed into “protective custody” by law enforcement or Child Protective Services. The children come from all over the Sacramento region.

Most of its funding comes from government sources, but it also accepts donations.

The facility employs about 135 people and has more than 70 volunteers, according to the website.”

Children’s Receiving Home counselor suspected of sex acts with minor, Sacramento police say

[Modesto Bee 8/16/13 by Kim Minugh]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

 

Update:“A civil suit filed against the Children’s Receiving Home of Sacramento this month alleges the facility’s employees were negligent in supervising – and, later, in failing to investigate – a former counselor who had sexual contact with a teenage client.

That former counselor, Theresa Gooch, ultimately pleaded no contest to three felonies in connection with that relationship.

The lawsuit, filed by attorneys Joseph George and Stewart Katz, seeks an unspecified amount in damages for negligence, sexual battery and breach of fiduciary duty. It also names Gooch as a defendant.

In the eight-page complaint, the attorneys allege that Receiving Home supervisors failed to act when alerted by the victim’s sister, who worked at the home as a cook, that Gooch was having inappropriate contact with clients, including her sister.

The older sister relayed to supervisors a conversation in which her younger sister, then 16, said Gooch had gotten her and another client drunk at her own home and supplied them with marijuana. The younger girl also confided that Gooch “wanted a more intimate relationship” with her.At that point, however, the girl already had sexual contact with the counselor. Though she did not share that with her sister, George said the younger girl was reaching out for help.

He said his client, now 18, would run away from the Receiving Home to meet with Gooch and, at times, stay at her home.

“(Gooch) would coach her on how she would get out … then she’d pick her up a block and a half away,” George said. Referring to Receiving Home supervisors, he added, “It’s going on right under … their watch.”

The victim’s sister met with supervisors Feb. 26, 2013, to discuss the allegations, according to the complaint. She was told they would investigate, but that she should “keep this confidential.”

Employees later told the victim’s sister that they couldn’t substantiate the claims and that they “did everything they could,” the complaint alleges.

“How would you feel if someone made false claims against you?” one supervisor reportedly told the sister, according to the complaint.

George said he does not know what their “abysmal investigation” entailed, but he said the victim was never interviewed.

Unsatisfied with the response by supervisors, the victim’s sister went to Sacramento police in late spring or early summer. Detectives arrested Gooch in August.

Gooch ultimately pleaded no contest to two counts of having oral sex with a minor and one count of furnishing a minor with marijuana between September 2012 and February 2013. In November, she was sentenced to a year in county jail and five years of probation.

Her defense attorney in the criminal case, Jeffrey Barbour, declined to comment on the civil lawsuit.

In an email to The Sacramento Bee, David Ballard, chief executive officer of the Receiving Home, said he was told about the lawsuit Tuesday and that the matter had been referred to counsel. In the meantime, he said he could not respond to the complaint specifically.

“As the only emergency shelter for those children, we take our responsibilities and our mandates seriously. Any time someone believes we have fallen short of this goal, it’s disappointing for us,” he wrote in the email. “We will continue our concerted efforts to provide services for the children of our community that are in need. Our hearts continue to go out to the victim and the victim’s family involved in this case.”

The Receiving Home, located on Auburn Boulevard at Watt Avenue, is a privately run, nonprofit facility that most commonly houses children placed in protective custody by law enforcement or Child Protective Services from throughout the Sacramento region.

George said his client went to the Receiving Home after suffering physical abuse at the hands of a non-biological relative. Children who end up there can easily fall victim to employees who abuse their relationships with their clients, he said.

“These kids are so vulnerable,” he said. “Anyone could have them eating out of their hands by showing them some kindness and warmth.”

In the complaint, the attorneys say their client suffered “psychological and emotional injury and harm” as a result of her interactions with Gooch. But George said she is getting help and moving forward.

“She’ll wind up on her feet,” he said. “She’s motivated.””

“Employees at a Sacramento home for abused and neglected youth had sex with the children and let some of them work as prostitutes, a former employee claims in court.
Tina Canupp filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the Children’s Receiving Home of Sacramento. The home and Does 1-25 are the only defendants.
The home, which provides temporary emergency shelter for up to 98 children on its 6-acres, says on its website that it is “committed to positively impacting the lives of children, youth, and families affected by abuse, neglect, behavioral health issues, and trauma in California.”
The home admits children from age 1 to 18 when they are in crisis, providing food, shelter, clothing, and comprehensive care programs, according to the website.
Canupp, a former Health and Wellness Manager at the home, claims that she made multiple reports about employees sexually abusing children at the home, but her complaints were ignored and she was eventually fired.
She claims that a fellow employee told her that one of the counselors “was assisting minor female residents in sneaking out of the facility after hours to ‘work.’ When plaintiff inquired further into what the CRH employee meant by work, the employee stated, ‘prostitute,'” according to the complaint.
Canupp filed a report with one of the managers, Karen Gregg, who “responded abruptly that the allegation was a lie, brushing off the entire report,” the complaint states.
Then, Canupp says, she learned through an employee that another employee was inappropriately touching one of the girls staying at the home. Again, when she reported this, Gregg failed to investigate, and said that the employee who reported the alleged incident was lying and needed to be fired, the lawsuit states.
The next month, an employee identified as Ms. C. told Canupp that counselor Theresa Gooch was having inappropriate sexual relations with a child staying at the home. Gregg told Canupp not to interview the child involved because Ms. C was a liar, the complaint states.
The allegations of sexual abuse against Gooch were subsequently substantiated by the Sacramento Police Department, Canupp says in the 20-page complaint.
     In October 2013, Gooch, who was 25 at the time, pleaded no-contest to having oral sex with a 16-year-old girl at the home and to providing the girl with marijuana. She was sentenced to a year in county jail and five years probation, according to the Sacramento Bee.
In January this year, the girl and her family filed a civil suit against the home and Gooch. The complaint alleges that Gooch sneaked the girl and another client out of the Children’s Receiving Home and into her own home and supplied them with alcohol and marijuana, according to the Bee.
That complaint states that the victim’s sister alerted the Children’s Receiving Home to what was going on, but the home’s employees did not properly investigate the issue and determined that they could not substantiate the claims, the Bee reported. Canupp’s lawsuit alleges that another employee, identified as “E,” had an inappropriate relationship with two of the home’s youths, one of whom told Canupp that “there was prostitution going on at CRH and she could prove it.”
Canupp says she “immediately took her notes to HR and told HR an investigation needed to be conducted and this matter could not be shoved under the rug as CRH had done so many times in the past.”
But rather than do something about it, management ridiculed Canupp for reporting the suspected sexual abuse, saying that she was a liar and liked to create drama, the complaint states.
Management continued to retaliate against Canupp until she was fired, she says.
Canupp seeks punitive damages on 10 counts, including disability discrimination, retaliation, interference with FMLA, and wrongful termination.
She is represented by Natalia Asbill with Perkins & Associates.
The Children’s Receiving Home did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “

Calif. Youth Home Faces Prostitution Claims [Courthouse News 4/29/14 by Elizabeth Warmerdam]

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