Woman claims she was raped by a drug treatment center employee

May 24 – A mother of three is suing a substance abuse treatment center in Rio Arriba County, claiming the company employed a man with a criminal past who raped her there in 2022.

The civil suit, recently filed in the state’s First District Court, accuses Española-based Hoy Recovery Program of negligent hiring, premises liability and violations of the Unfair Trade Practices Act. It seeks an unspecified amount in compensatory and punitive damages from Hoy and the certified peer support worker she accuses of sexually assaulting her while she was in inpatient treatment for a fentanyl addiction.

The plaintiff is identified in the lawsuit only by the fictitious name Jane Doe

“Jane Doe struggled with her addiction; she was emotionally and physically overwhelmed when she confronted the consequences of her addiction by seeking help from Hoy Recovery,” the lawsuit states. “Instead of helping Jane Doe recover, Hoy’s negligence was a reason for her exploitation by … a Hoy employee who took advantage of her when she was at her most vulnerable.”

The New Mexican does not name the accused worker; he apparently has not been charged with assaulting the woman.

The plaintiff’s lawyer did not respond to a call asking whether she had reported the alleged assaults to the police.

Hoy did not respond to emails and phone messages seeking comment.

The woman’s complaint states that she was assaulted by the worker three times and reported his behavior to management, but “nothing was done immediately as a result of her report.” However, the complaint states that the employee was subsequently assigned only to the men’s section of the facility.

The former Hoy employee named as a defendant said in a telephone interview Tuesday that this was the first time he had heard of the lawsuit.

“There’s a situation behind all this,” he said. “We dealt with it at the time and I’ve never heard anything about it since. That was two years ago.”

He confirmed that he had worked at Hoy and said he did not know “what they had done about it on their part”, but he had suggested having men work with men and women with women and “that was implemented after I left”.

He declined to say when he left Hoy or make any further comment. “At that point, I would contact a lawyer,” he said.

Hoy knew or should have known the risks associated with employing the man, the lawsuit says. Between 1990 and 2014, “at least 44 criminal cases” were brought against him in New Mexico, including “at least” eleven cases of domestic violence and twelve drunken driving offenses, one conviction for escape, two cases of drug trafficking and one case in which he threatened to “shoot the mother of his children in the head or back.”

“Despite his criminal past and long-standing pattern of violence, Hoy hired him and assigned him to work closely with vulnerable female residents,” the lawsuit states.

According to court records, the former Hoy employee’s criminal past dates back to 1990 and includes dozens of charges, including multiple counts of driving under the influence, drug trafficking and domestic violence.

Some cases are so old that full records are not publicly available online. Records in the system show that a state district court judge sentenced the man to four years in prison in 2015 as part of a global plea agreement in which he pleaded guilty to sixth counts of driving under the influence and trafficking heroin.