Ex-youth centrecounsellor’s lawyer sees greed behind charges

CONCORD, N.H. — An attorney for a man charged with repeatedly raping a teenage boy at New Hampshire’s state-run youth detention centre in the 1990s said Friday the allegations are motivated by “money and greed.”

Stephen Murphy, 50, was charged in July with 26 counts of rape. He and another former youth counsellor are accused of assaulting a teen at the Youth Development Center in Manchester.

Last week, the victim in the criminal case, David Meehan, filed a class-action lawsuit against the state, Murphy and others, alleging that not only was he repeatedly raped and beaten, but that other workers ignored him when he sought help. His attorneys also represent 35 other men and women who say they were abused as children between 1982 and 2014 by both male and female staffers.

The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been victims of sexual assault, unless they go public, as Meehan has.

Murphy’s attorney, Bruce Kenna said the allegations are false and that his client will be exonerated. He accused Meehan of blaming his family, the state, Murphy and others “for his life of crime and substance abuse,” according to a press release.

“The real motive behind the false claims being made by David Meehan and his lawyers is very clear. Money and greed,” he said.

Murphy, who is from Danvers, Massachusetts, went on to work as a clubhouse attendant for the Boston Red Sox, which suspended him without pay in July. Kenna said the team “has effectively declared him guilty” and that his client’s reputation and future have been irreversibly damaged.

“His young family has been intimidated, humiliated and subjected to unbearable anxiety and stress,” he said.

The Manchester youth centre, now called the Sununu Youth Services Center, houses teens ordered to a secure facility by the juvenile justice system. The allegations against Murphy and the other former counsellor prompted a broad criminal investigation by the attorney general’s office into the centre’s operations and staff.

Holly Ramer, The Associated Press