Lawsuit seeks damages in juvenile sex abuse case

BOISE (AP) - A juvenile boy who was sexually abused by a security supervisor at a Nampa juvenile correctional facility now seeks compensation for damages, according to a recently filed lawsuit.

The Idaho Statesman reports that the suit accuses Julie McCormick of having sex with a then-15-year-old boy several times in 2012. The suit, filed Tuesday, says the activity took place in McCormick's office and other areas in the detention facility out of range of surveillance cameras.

"This boy was diagnosed as being easily misled and a prior victim of child sexual abuse," said attorney Bruce Skaug, who filed the suit along with Eric Rossman. "He was under psychiatric care, taking psychiatric medications, and was particularly vulnerable."

The lawsuit also accuses several correctional employees of knowing of McCormick's inappropriate relationship with the boy but not doing anything about it.

Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections spokesman Jeff Ray declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The suit alleges that McCormick bragged about her conquest with the victim to another juvenile offender.

It also claims that another correctional staffer walked into McCormick's office while McCormick and the boy were dressing while another employee was shown a note that McCormick wrote that provided her home address. The suit accuses the employee of telling the victim that it was up to him if he wanted to continue the relationship with McCormick after he was released.

McCormick pleaded guilty to lewd conduct with a minor under 16 last year.

She told investigators that she fell in love with the victim in the summer of 2012. She said she wrote him love letters, removed photographs of the victim's girlfriend from his cellphone and returned his laundered clothes with perfume.

Despite one employee expressing concern in April 2012 that McCormick developed an inappropriate relationship with the boy, McCormick wasn't fired until August after she was found with the boy following a sexual encounter.

According to the lawsuit, attorneys are asking for damages to be determined at trial.

The department and other employees are also part of a separate whistleblower lawsuit alleging that up to 12 juvenile offenders at the Nampa facility were victims of sexual abuse since 1998.