CONCORD, NH – Twenty years ago, Victor Malavet, 58, was transferred from the Youth Detention Center’s Youth Detention Services Unit in Concord to the main campus in Manchester because an investigation was underway concerning allegations of inappropriate behavior he was having with a detained teenage girl.
Malavet was never charged in that case, after the teen denied anything happened because she didn’t want him to get in trouble. However, that ended Wednesday when Malavet was arrested on seven counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault.
On Wednesday, authorities arrested four more former YDC counselors, including Malavet, on charges they sexually abused teens being detained by the state. That brings the number of former counselors facing criminal charges to 11. The investigation, headed by the New Hampshire Attorney General, is ongoing.
Senior Assistant Attorney General Timothy Sullivan, in 6th Circuit – District Division – Concord asked the judge to hold Malavet without bail arguing he is a danger to the community and a flight risk since, if convicted, he faces the possibility of a life sentence.
Malavet, between June 1 and Nov. 30, 2001, is alleged to have coerced “N.M.” to perform fellatio on him and engage in sexual intercourse with him. According to the prosecutor, the incidents took place in various rooms at the facility including the candy storage room, laundry room, TV room and clothing room.
Sullivan said when N.M. arrived at the facility, Malavet almost immediately started paying exta attention to her, giving her special privileges and treating her nicer than the other residents.
The first assault, he said, happened in the candy room. He was the one to assign her to select candy for residents. He brought her to the storage room and the door closed behind them. Sullivan said Malavet suggested she perform oral sex on him and she said she didn’t want to do that. He insisted and she felt she had no other choice but to do it because of the control he had over her daily life, according to the prosecutor.
Malavet at some point turned her around, took down her pants and had sexual intercourse with her. He allegedly continued sexually assaulting her whenever he took her to various rooms, Sullivan said.
The assaults ended, Sullivan said, when a staff member discovered by accident that something was going on between the two of them and reported him. Malavet was transferred to the YDC campus in Manchester so he would be away from the teen.
There was an investigation but MN denied anything had happened so Malavet would not get in trouble, Sullivan said.
The state identified three former staff members who worked with Malavet at the time. One knew there had been an investigation because she filed the report concerning inappropriate behavior. Another former staffer said he knew about the investigation and had seen Malavet with the teen in the laundry room. A third staffer confirmed Malavet had a “little friend” there and that they would spend time together.
Public Defender Catherine Flinchbaugh asked the court to release Malavet on personal recognizance bail. She said while the allegations are serious, they are 20 years old. She said Malavet has no criminal record, is a U.S. Army veteran, has been married for 36 years and has adult children who have their own families.
Bail was set at $25,000 cash/surety.
The other three men were arraigned Thursday in Manchester circuit court. None of them had attorneys so the judge set a bail hearing for each for Friday.
The circuit court has no jurisdiction when it comes to felony counts so no plea was entered for any of the defendants.
As in the Concord case, the state asked the judge to hold all three defendants in preventive detention, that is, without bail.
Arraigned were:
Jonathan Brand, 56, of Concord, two counts of felonious sexual assault dating back to 2007; Trevor Middleton, 52, of Belmont, one charge of aggravated felonious sexual assault dating back to 1999, and Stanley Watson, 52, of Allenstown, charged with three counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault dating back to 1997.
The charges against Brand, who is being held in the Valley Street jail, allege that sometime between March 13 and May 30, 2007, he used his position of authority to coerce “JD” into masturbating him in the teen’s room at the detention facility.
Middleton, who is being detained at the Cheshire County jail, is accused of a pattern of aggravated felonious sexual assault occurring between May 10, 1999 and March 16, 2001 involving a teen under the age of 16. He allegedly had the teen perform fellatio on him.
Watson, who is being held in the Rockingham County jail, is also accused of a pattern of sexual assault involving a teen under the age of 16 occurring between July 3, 1997 and Feb. 10, 1998. The offenses involve fellatio, acts that took place in the teen’s bedroom at Spaulding Cottage.
Anyone with information regarding criminal conduct at the YDC is urged to contact the NH Attorney General’s Task Force hotline at 271-4000.
