Lawsuit: Union Gospel Mission and Alan L. Chase III

“A former foster child is seeking financial damages from a St. Paul social services organization as a result of sexual abuse he claims he suffered 45 years ago while enrolled in a youth foster care program.

The plaintiff maintains he was sexually abused by a staff member while living in a downtown St. Paul foster care facility from 1972 to 1973. His nine-page lawsuit against the Union Gospel Mission and former employee Alan L. Chase III was filed this month in Ramsey County District Court.

The plaintiff entered the facility at age 13 or 14, having already had a difficult life and “arrived ready for some stability and for someone to take care of him,” said the plaintiff’s attorney, Aaron Eken, of Minneapolis-based McEllistrem, Fargione, Landy, Rorvig and Eken, P.A. “He ended up getting sexually assaulted over and over and over again.”

The Pioneer Press generally does not identify alleged victims of rape, incest or other sex crimes.

The legal claim cites one count of sexual abuse, one count of liability and four counts of negligence, from general negligence to negligence in hiring. It seeks in excess of $50,000 in damages.

Administrators with the Union Gospel Mission said last week they had been approached by two former foster children who claimed to have been abused by the same staff member in the early 1970s.

After launching their own investigation and contacting the former employee, the Gospel Mission settled with one of the men for an undisclosed financial sum, but found the claims brought by the other man — whom they did not identify — to be unsubstantiated.

Gospel Mission administrators said the staffer, whom they did not name, left shortly after the alleged incidents occurred and has not been associated with the organization in decades.

“I don’t know how many victims there are here, but there are at least three,” said Eken, who represented both of the alleged victims and said he knows of a third.

ACCUSATIONS INCLUDE HAROLD MORDH

The Union Gospel Mission ran a youth foster care program from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s in conjunction with Ramsey County, and maintained multiple facilities for homeless youth. Staffers lived on-site and received room, board and a stipend.

The suit claims that despite hearing reports of abuse from “one or more children,” Harold Mordh — who was executive director or superintendent of Union Gospel Mission from 1958 to 1974 — “took no adverse action against any employee who had engaged in sexual assault or sexual abuse against children.”

Instead, when a child came forward with allegations against Chase, Mordh ignored the reports, removed Chase from the facility after a few months, and then placed him in charge of minors at a second facility in downtown St. Paul, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit also states that Chase “had no reason to feel he would be held accountable.”

In the suit, the plaintiff said he suffered “severe and painful bodily injuries” and permanent anguish.

The suit goes on to say that Mordh “created a work atmosphere of sexual promiscuity both by his personal actions and by his toleration of inappropriate sexual activity of his employees.”

Mordh, a popular and politically connected figure at the time who also ran a nursing home, was eventually indicted on numerous charges after a corruption inquiry. A police lieutenant recounted investigating claims that Mordh, armed with a handgun, had raped two teen girls while another staffer stood guard. Mordh was not charged in that case.

With the support of political leaders at the time, Mordh was allowed to plead guilty in 1981 to some of the least serious charges — possession of a sawed-off shotgun, possession of a controlled substance, diversion of corporate funds and filing of false income tax returns. He served six months in the county workhouse, then got in trouble a few years later for allegedly buying stolen goods.

Tom Radio, an attorney for the Union Gospel Mission, said he would likely file an answer to the lawsuit this week. He said Mordh “died some years ago,” and the plaintiff in the case does not live in Minnesota.

The civil complaint against Chase and the Union Gospel Mission was served within the statute of limitations for sexual-abuse cases, Radio said, and he had no knowledge of a police investigation. “I don’t believe that police have been involved as of this date, and I believe the statute of limitations has run out on a criminal investigation,” he said.”

Former foster child claims sexual abuse at Union Gospel Mission [Pioneer Press 4/12/17 by Frederick Melo]

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