A former youth counselor accused of sexually assaulting a teenage boy at a New Hampshire detention center faces trial in a case that emerged from a sweeping scandal involving more than 1,100 abuse claims.
MANCHESTER, N.H.: A former youth detention counselor went on trial Monday in New Hampshire, more than seven years after his arrest helped expose allegations of widespread physical, sexual and emotional abuse at a state facility spanning decades.
Jeffrey Buskey, 60, of Litchfield, faces 21 counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault involving David Meehan, who was 14 when he arrived at the Youth Development Center in Manchester in 1995. The facility is now known as the Sununu Youth Services Center.
The case is the first involving Buskey to reach trial and is part of a much larger criminal investigation triggered by allegations from former residents of the facility. Meehan was the first person to file a lawsuit alleging abuse, ultimately helping bring attention to more than 1,100 lawsuits involving alleged mistreatment at the center over six decades.
Meehan has publicly identified himself as an alleged victim. During an earlier civil trial, he described Buskey as initially presenting himself as a trusted adult before allegedly abusing him.
Meehan testified that Buskey gave him snacks and soda and allowed him to play basketball with a local high school team before the relationship allegedly turned abusive. He said the abuse occurred repeatedly.
A jury awarded Meehan $38 million in 2024, although the verdict remains disputed as New Hampshire seeks to reduce the amount substantially.
Buskey has denied the allegations. In a police interview transcript recently filed with the court, he said he had a “great relationship” with Meehan and rejected accusations that he abused him.
“I was always nice to the kid, I was always trying to help him,” Buskey said, according to the transcript.
The allegations against Buskey and another former employee led to their arrests in 2019 and triggered an unprecedented investigation. Nine additional former workers were subsequently arrested, while New Hampshire established a settlement fund intended to compensate people who reported being abused at the facility.
The criminal cases have produced mixed outcomes. Three former workers — Bradley Asbury, Stanley Watson and James Woodlock — have been convicted. Other cases have resulted in acquittals, mistrials, dropped charges or findings that defendants were unable to stand trial. One defendant died while awaiting trial, while another remains awaiting proceedings.
The Youth Development Center once housed more than 100 children but now typically serves fewer than a dozen. The facility currently houses young people accused or convicted of the most serious violent offenses.
New Hampshire lawmakers have approved closing the existing center and replacing it with a significantly smaller facility at a different location.
Buskey’s trial is expected to place renewed focus on how allegations of abuse at the center were handled over decades and whether the state adequately protected children placed in its care.
The allegations remain allegations unless and until established in court, and Buskey is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
