Sentenced at 16, survivor details harrowing abuse at WA juvenile facility

CHEHALIS, Wash. - At 16, Dakota Ingram was sentenced to an adult prison after his first encounter with the law. When he was transferred to a juvenile detention facility in his hometown to serve the rest of his sentence closer to family, he thought it was a stroke of good fortune. Instead, it became a personal nightmare, now detailed in a new lawsuit.

Now an adult, Ingram is just beginning to share his story. He is among 364 plaintiffs suing the state of Washington, alleging it failed to protect children from abuse in juvenile detention facilities statewide.

This isn’t the first time Washington has faced such allegations, but it is exceedingly rare for a state to confront such a staggering number of individual accusations. According to the lawyer behind the lawsuits, hundreds of additional victims have already come forward.

"What we found is, the more we reached out about these cases the more cases came to us," said Attorney Vanessa Oslund. "This abuse was really, really rampant … widespread, and not particularly hidden."

The court filings are difficult to read, with descriptions of heinous acts involving victims ranging in age from 8 to 18 years old. 

As a teenager, Ingram was groomed and abused. What makes his case particularly harrowing is that a security guard was not only aware of his suffering but, according to the lawsuit, regularly mocked him publicly.

Each claim is deeply disturbing on its own, but the overwhelming number of alleged perpetrators, locations and the decades-long time span paint a grim picture — one that suggests the sexual abuse of minors in state custody was alarmingly widespread.

The Department of Children, Youth and Families told FOX 13 Seattle that it’s a direct result of a recent change in law that removed time limits that previously required victims of child sexual abuse to file lawsuits within three years.

"Most of the torts submitted are historic in nature," a spokesperson said. "This is similar to what many institutions are seeing across the country."

The alleged acts span more than a dozen locations, from the 1960s up until 2022. The lawsuit even describes how those who spoke up faced punishment. The only hope? To graduate out of the system.

"I felt like I was damaged'

Ingram struggled for years with what took place behind bars. His mother died a little over three years ago, never knowing what he survived. In fact, the first time he ever shared his story was with an employee at his attorney’s office.

"I just felt like I was damaged, you know, and I couldn’t talk about it," Ingram described inside his father’s home. "I felt like if I did, then people would think less of me, or think I was weird. I just felt like I’d be judged in ways I didn’t want to be judged."

Ingram was a teenager when he first got in trouble with the law. As a young man, he broke into a sporting goods store, and guns were involved, which led to an adult prison sentence.

As a teenager, he was among the first prisoners sent to a juvenile facility despite being convicted as an adult. This decision isolated him from his peers, leaving his primary interactions to the two security guards who escorted him around—men who would later become his abusers.

As Ingram described it, he was stripped of so much behind bars that little things made you feel special – over time, what seemed like compassion was weaponized. 

Personal conversations became more aggressive, until he was being forced into sexual situations with one guard. The other, a friend to the first abuser, would make crude jokes and openly mock him for the abuses that were unfolding.

Ingram can still remember the feeling of those comments, and feeling as if his world was crumbling.

"I remember that feeling of my skin crawling in front of everybody," he said. "I wanted to curl up in a ball, but in that environment you can’t do that. You’ve got to maintain a kind of macho, tough guy attitude … people take advantage of you if you’re not."

Ingram’s case took a twist, where even after his release from Green Hill in Chehalis, he was visited by his abusers.

According to the lawsuit obtained by FOX 13 Seattle, the abusers arrived at his childhood home and convinced his parents it was a hazing routine: they allegedly tackled him awake, handcuffed him to his bed and "reminded" him that they worked just down the road. 

This was viewed as an open threat, and a reminder to never speak up.

"It just shattered any type of thought I had that this is a home, that nobody can come here. You know? My Dad will protect me, and that type of thing. That idea of protection wasn’t even a thing anymore."

Young people abused for decades

The issues within Washington’s youth facilities is nothing new. In fact, when the state legislature debated lifting time limits on lawsuits surrounding child abuse, DCYF was already facing 222 lawsuits over alleged abuse in foster care and other settings.

The Attorney General’s Office estimated at that time that an additional 50 lawsuits per year would be filed against the department if the bill passed, which ultimately did.

According to Oslund, hundreds of potential clients are currently in talks with Bergman Olsund Udo Little, a law firm in Seattle. That’s on top of the 364 clients split between two similar lawsuits that have already been filed.

The stories are traumatic, ranging from young individuals losing their virginity to adult staff members, to sodomy and forcible oral sex.

Oslund told FOX 13 Seattle that the situation grew more dire for some of the clients, as they faced punishment for making their abuse public.

"They were punished, they were sent to solitary, they were threatened as if they were lying," said Oslund. "I have clients listed in those complaints where they were given demerits because they had sexual relationships with much, much older women who were in positions of power."

DCYF told FOX 13 Seattle that they take swift action to protect young people in their care when complaints are made, even stating that "they encourage young people to report sexual abuse."

"We strive to offer multiple ways for young people to make those reports in ways that feels safe to them," a DCYF spokesperson said. "We try to make information broadly available, including posters and brochures with the CPS hotline."

However, Oslund noted that her clients aren’t all historical in nature. Problems persist to this day.

Earlier this year, FOX 13 Seattle reported on three separate cases that involved employees at the Green Hill youth detention facility in Chehalis. Each case involved an employee of DCYF being charged with sexual misconduct.

Ingram told FOX 13 Seattle that he believes the entire system needs to be reworked, torn-down and rebuilt from the floor up.

"The state wants to hold these kids accountable. ‘Where is the accountability for the state?’" asked Oslund.

As Oslund explained, her clients never got the fresh start they were promised following stints of rehabilitative services. Instead, they are seeking monetary damages with hopes that it can help obtain new starts for them.

It’s unclear what the ultimate cost of a trial or settlement could be. In recent years, several multi-million dollar settlements were issued to victims of sexual abuse that were previously in the care of Washington state.

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