A $9 million lawsuit alleges a caregiver at a state-run Salem group home drugged and sexually abused a 30-year-old woman with an intellectual disability.
The complaint, filed Tuesday, Oct. 20, in Multnomah County Circuit Court, accuses the state of Oregon of negligence and sexual battery, first reported by The Oregonian. The lawsuit seeks three times the stated damages for alleged abuse of a vulnerable person.
The woman, identified in court documents as D.B., lived in a locked Stabilization and Crisis Unit (SCU) operated by the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS). Her care plan required at least two staff members to supervise her at all times, with at least one being a woman, the lawsuit alleges.
Those rules were not followed, the complaint states. A male direct support crisis specialist was sometimes left alone with D.B. overnight. The lawsuit accuses him of grooming her by kissing and groping her and giving her marijuana gummies and medications not prescribed for her. He then allegedly sexually abused her at least three times in late 2024.
In one encounter described in the lawsuit, the man sent a second staffer away, entered D.B.'s room, barricaded the door and turned the TV volume up to keep others from hearing the assault.
D.B. disclosed the abuse in December 2024 and was taken to a hospital for a sexual-assault exam. DNA collected during that exam matched the state employee after police obtained a warrant for his DNA profile, according to the lawsuit.
The accused employee, now 45, was fired by the state, according to attorney Peter B. Janci, who filed the lawsuit.
No criminal charges had been filed as of Oct. 20.
"Her own care plan said she should never be left alone with a single staff member," Janci said in a statement. "We intend to prove the State ignored its own rules, and our client has paid a terrible price."
Oregon State Police Capt. Chris Zohner said the agency is investigating. State police forwarded an initial report to the Marion County District Attorney's office, but the criminal investigation remains ongoing, Zohner said.
ODHS spokesperson Jake Sunderland declined comment on the allegations, citing the pending litigation, The Oregonian reported.
The lawsuit also names former ODHS Director Fariborz Pakseresht as a defendant. The complaint alleges the abuse partly resulted from "longstanding systemic failures" under his watch, including chronic understaffing and excessive overtime.
Pakseresht led ODHS from September 2017 to Oct. 1, 2025. He is now serving as interim director of the Oregon Health Authority, according to the Oregon Capital Chronicle.
The lawsuit arrives as the state faces a deadline to overhaul its crisis units. In May 2025, state lawmakers passed a bill directing ODHS to draft a new work plan to improve crisis care and ensure its SCUs stay in full federal compliance. Workers, through their union representatives, had publicly complained about safety, injuries and burnout from mandatory overtime, The Oregonian reported.
D.B. is now under the care of family members in Oregon, Janci said.
