A former south side foster care facility dubbed the 'House of Horrors' is facing more legal problems.
Aunt Martha’s Integrated Care Center at S. Michigan Avenue housed vulnerable youth in state care.
State officials shut the facility down in June 2024, following allegations of staff sexual assault, sex trafficking, widespread violence, and years of failed oversight.
This week, Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump and Levin & Perconti filed a new complaint in the Illinois Court of Claims, alleging the Department of Children & Family Services ignored thousands of reports about serious abuse and neglect.
"From 2018 until Aunt Martha's was shut down, there were over 3,000 unusual incident reports to DCFS. The police were called to the facility 175 times," said Levin & Perconti Managing Partner Margaret Battersby Black.
The complaint further alleges the claimant, a 17-year-old girl, was repeatedly sexually abused by A-Alert Security guard Trulon Henry.
Henry was found guilty of a handful of felony sex crimes against multiple female residents, including the claimant, earlier this year. He will be sentenced in August.
"There are many foster children who suffered abuse and neglect at Aunt Martha's," the claimant wrote in a victim statement read by an attorney. "It was a house of horrors for us."
Aunt Martha’s Integrated Care Center, A-Alert Security and the state of Illinois are all named in the complaint.
