Ex-Counselor Buskey Goes on Trial in New Hampshire Youth Detention Abuse Case

A sexual assault trial opens Monday for a former counselor at a New Hampshire youth detention facility, in a case that helped expose a sprawling abuse scandal at the institution.

Jeffrey Buskey, 60, of Litchfield, is accused of assaulting four boys who were held at the Youth Development Center in Manchester during the late 1990s. The first of his cases to reach trial involves 21 counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault against David Meehan, who was 14 when he arrived at the facility in 1995. The center is now known as the Sununu Youth Services Center.

Meehan filed the first of more than 1,100 lawsuits alleging physical, sexual or emotional abuse at the facility over six decades. His allegations led to the arrest of Buskey and another former worker in 2019, an unprecedented criminal investigation that produced nine additional arrests and a settlement fund for victims.

During an earlier civil trial, Meehan testified that Buskey began as a trusted father figure, offering soda, snacks and chances to play basketball with a local high school team, before subjecting him to near-daily rapes. "It went from being somebody I trusted, that I thought was not just there to help me, but somebody I thought cared for me, to hurt," Meehan said. A jury awarded him $38 million in May 2024, though the state is seeking to reduce the amount to $475,000 and the verdict remains in dispute.

In a police interview transcript recently filed in court, Buskey could not recall his home address from the 1990s and struggled to spell his then-fiancée's last name, but mentioned Meehan unprompted. He denied abusing him, saying they had a "great relationship" and that he was "always nice to the kid" and "always trying to help him."

The youth center once housed more than 100 children but now typically serves fewer than a dozen, holding only those accused or convicted of the most serious violent crimes. Lawmakers have approved closing the facility and replacing it with a much smaller building at a new location.

Three other men have been convicted in related criminal cases: Bradley Asbury, Stanley Watson and James Woodlock. Jurors acquitted Jonathan Brand and deadlocked in the case of Victor Malavet, leading to a mistrial. Charges were dropped against Trevor Middleton, Frank Davis was declared incompetent to stand trial, and Gordon Searles died while awaiting trial. Stephen Murphy, who has pending charges, had one trial end in a mistrial and another end with an acquittal on three charges and a hung jury on five others. Lucien Poulette is awaiting trial.