Investigators seeking search warrants for Daybreak Youth Services alleged multiple instances of sexual assault and problems with client and staff safety, and a pattern of inadequate reporting as required by law, records obtained from the Clark County Sheriff’s Office show.
Deputies served six search warrants Tuesday at the Brush Prairie youth outpatient and inpatient mental health and substance abuse treatment facility, 11910 N.E. 154th St.
Affidavits filed in support of the search warrants detail alleged instances of sexual violence among clients, sexual misconduct by a staff member with a client, and a night when a client attempted to hang himself twice in minutes.
None of the incidents appear to have been properly reported to law enforcement or child welfare officials, according to the records.
In a statement, Daybreak Youth Services’ board said it intends to work with the sheriff’s office and takes the allegations seriously.
“We reached out to representatives of the sheriff’s office (Wednesday) and will continue to work with the department regarding all allegations,” Board President Carl Griffin said in the statement. “At this point, we have received no further information from the sheriff’s department, so, at the advice of our attorney, we can provide no further comment on the investigation.
“We enjoy a close working relationship with state oversight agencies to ensure transparency,” he added. “And we proactively retained an industry consultant to review our policies and procedures to ensure we are meeting or exceeding industry best practices.”
Although the warrants allege multiple crimes, no arrests have been made, and no charges have been referred to the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, the sheriff’s office said.
Allegation unreported
Documents show that the overarching investigation appears to have begun June 12 when the sheriff’s office learned of an alleged sexual assault at the facility.
The 15-year-old victim told his probation officer that one of his roommates sexually assaulted him in his sleep. Another roommate had alerted him to what happened. That witness characterized the alleged assailant as a bully, who often joked about forcing others to give him oral sex, according to sheriff’s office records.
The victim said he brought the issue to his Daybreak counselor. However, the victim’s mother said Daybreak never notified her about the incident, according to the records.
Through Clark County Juvenile Court and probation officials, sheriff’s Sgt. Chris Luque contacted the boy’s family, who said they sat down with probation officials and Daybreak staff. The records said the boy’s aunt told Luque that Daybreak staff in the meeting never talked about reporting the incident to law enforcement and commented that video surveillance — all the rooms have a camera — of the incident was “grainy” and inconclusive.
Daybreak staff also reportedly said that the boy’s story had changed, and there was inadequate evidence to support his claims or the statements of the witness. The aunt told Luque she was under the impression the incident had been reported to law enforcement but was never substantiated for lack of evidence, according to the records.
The mother “seemed surprised when she inquired, and I confirmed that we were not made aware of this investigation,” Luque wrote in the records. “They really didn’t make a big deal of it,” she said.
The boy and his family were never given access to the video footage, records said.
The records said Luque reviewed calls for service at the facility for the month of the alleged assault, and beyond, and found none of them were related to the boy’s assault. Luque also contacted Kris Goheen with the Department of Social and Health Services, who found that Child Protective Services was never notified.
“Goheen explained that this report from any party would initiate an investigation by CPS against Daybreak Youth Services wherein they would investigate the staff and facility for negligence,” Luque wrote. “(Goheen) further said that this would be a motive for a facility not to report this incident to avoid an investigation of this nature.”
Additional incidents
Reports of additional incidents came to light as deputies investigated the alleged sexual assault.
On July 15, deputies responded to the facility for a physical altercation, and while there, were told by a staff member that law enforcement “had no idea how bad it really is” at Daybreak. The employee said she couldn’t discuss further what she meant for fear of losing her job, according to records.
She later provided the names of several current and previous employees who would talk, the records said.
Luque contacted Jennifer Walker, who worked as an on-call skills coach at Daybreak from August 2017 to May 2018. Walker said she left due to safety concerns and a lack of policies and procedures at the facility, according to the records.
The records said she detailed a Jan. 1 incident she said she witnessed in which another female staff member was given a massage by an underage female client. The staff member reportedly took her shirt off and only wore a bra during the massage. Walker said she complained to her supervisor, but the supervisor reportedly told her that the staff member didn’t mean any harm. Walker was unsure if the incident was ever reported to law enforcement.
Walker said administrators repeatedly told staff not to call 911 unless it is a life-or-death situation. Employees were also required to contact a supervisor before calling 911, she said, but supervisors were rarely present or were difficult to reach, according to the records.
The employee who recommended investigators talk with Walker confirmed what Walker said about the administration’s instructions for contacting law enforcement, the records said.
Luque contacted DSHS and confirmed the alleged incident between the client and staff member was not reported to CPS, according to the records.
Another former employee, Cathan Tautfest, told investigators that they saved text messages regarding the incident. Tautfest was employed at Daybreak from June 2017 to June 2018. Tautfest said that the administration instructed staff not to contact law enforcement unless the victim wanted it reported, the records said.
The records said Tautfest wanted to report an alleged assault in which a boy was slashed on the back with a pair of tweezers by another resident. But after a supervisor talked to the boy alone, Tautfest said, the victim no longer wanted to report the incident.
Tautfest also saw video of the massage incident and complained to a supervisor about it via text message, according to records, and Tautfest showed law enforcement the saved text messages, confirming that the administration was aware of the incident.
The same staff member was allegedly caught a second time receiving a shoulder massage, with her shirt on, from the same underage resident. When Tautfest asked the supervisor if anything was being done about it, the supervisor said Daybreak’s human resources department was investigating, the records said.
The records said Tautfest also told detectives about hearing of multiple sexual assaults at the facility, and one from December stood out.
Tautfest was away for a few days, then returned to learn one of the residents had been raped in her bedroom on her first night at the facility, the records state. After meeting with the girl a few days after the incident, Tautfest described her as “catatonic,” having difficulty forming words and unable to repeat her full name, according to the records.
The records said that a supervisor said the human resources department was handling the investigation and reportedly told Tautfest, “We don’t call the cops unless a client asks it to be reported.”
Walker and Tautfest also recalled an incident where a boy attempted to hang himself multiple times in minutes, according to the records.
The records said Tautfest was working elsewhere in the facility when it was reported over a staff radio that a client tried to kill himself. Staffers had found a boy hanging in his room, unconscious. They revived him, then took away the string he used and his sheets. Minutes later, staffers were called for help again when they found the boy unconscious after trying to hang himself using his shirt. Staff moved him to a padded room and took away all of his clothing but his underwear.
Tautfest didn’t know whether medics ever responded to treat the boy but thought a former nurse there may have been disciplined for trying to seek medical treatment from outside the facility, the records said.
The sheriff’s office found the incident had not been reported to DSHS, according to the records.
The records said detectives also discovered that Daybreak staff never reported to DSHS an alleged sexual assault of a 15-year-old boy in a facility shower.
A sheriff’s detective contacted the boy’s mother in August. She said he was acting strangely during a visit in May. After some time, he said a group of boys had attacked him in the shower, records state. The mother took the boy to a hospital, which reported the incident to DSHS, according to the records.
The mother complained to the detective about problems contacting staff at Daybreak, and said she felt like the facility was trying to cover up what happened, the detective wrote in records.
The most recent incident mentioned in the affidavits describes an alleged sexual assault against a 14-year-old girl by another girl in mid-August. The victim was touched in a sexual manner and kissed on multiple occasions; the incidents were reported by the victim and friends to staff, records state.
The records said staff members were reviewing video surveillance in a theft investigation when they saw one resident kissing another. Staff said it appeared to be consensual. However, the victim said she did not consent and reported it to staff.
The victim said she was surprised law enforcement was getting involved nearly a week later and that no one had previously followed up with her. The staff member to whom the girl said she reported the incident denied ever being told it wasn’t consensual, the records said.
Administrators refused to hand over video surveillance of the incident and said law enforcement would need a subpoena or warrant. The refusal came upon advice of legal counsel, citing patient health care privacy law violations, according to sheriff’s office records.
Investigators said in the search warrants that they were looking for records pertaining to specific incidents of alleged misconduct, along with intake and discharge records, disciplinary records, documentation regarding mandatory reporting of assaults and other misconduct, client records and shift notes, among other records.
They also served search warrants to Microsoft and Qualifacts Systems Inc., asking those businesses to preserve Daybreak’s digital records, the sheriff’s office said.
The sheriff’s office is asking any current Daybreak Youth Services staff who may have information relevant to the investigation to contact Luque at 360-397-2211, ext. 5626, or chris.luque@clark.wa.gov. The agency also asked any current or former clients, and parents or guardians of current or former clients, to reach out.
The Washington State Department of Health is also investigating.
