In a case of Abner Louima redux, a counselor at the nation's largest residential treatment center for troubled youths is being held on charges of sodomizing a juvenile resident with a broomstick:

Sometime between 9 and 10 p.m., the authorities said, the victim, a resident of Wolfe Cottage, one of 22 residences on campus, was chased and cornered in a shower room by 16-year-old Elliot Perryman, who sodomized him with a broomstick while Jason Brown, 29, an assistant cottage supervisor, held him down. It was unclear what prompted the attack, the police said.

The victim reported the assault to the staff on Friday and was treated at a campus infirmary and at St. Joseph's Hospital in Yonkers. The two suspects were arrested then and charged with first-degree aggravated sexual abuse, a felony carrying prison terms of up to 25 years. They are being held in the Westchester County Jail on $50,000 bail each for a hearing on Dec. 4.

....At Children's Village, a nationally known treatment center whose broad lawns and rolling hills offer sanctuary to hundreds of emotionally scarred children and youths, a small army of social workers, psychiatrists, teachers and counselors have sought in recent days to help the residents deal with the devastating allegations.

But there were no answers to the most troubling questions: How could a case of sodomy have occurred in an institution that prides itself as a sanctuary for troubled children? If true, why had it happened? And how could a counselor have taken part in such a thing? Ms. Stutz said it was useless to speculate, pending a full police investigation.

[comments now closed]