SPOKANE (WA)
The Seattle Times
By The Associated Press
SPOKANE — Newly released documents reveal multiple allegations of sexual abuse at Morning Star Boys' Ranch in the past quarter-century and indicate that assaults have continued in recent years.
State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) records obtained by The Spokesman-Review newspaper include five allegations of sexually inappropriate interactions between boys and adults associated with the Catholic home for troubled boys in the past decade.
The 871 pages of documents, released in response to a public-records request by the newspaper, also include several accounts of molestation and rape among the residents from 1978 to this year.
Although the state edited the documents to protect the names of the boys and some adults, the reports provide the most comprehensive documented account of life inside Morning Star, which has been shaken in recent months by allegations of physical and sexual assaults that date back decades.