(WBBM NEWSRADIO) --A treatment center in Arkansas is the target of a civil lawsuit filed by eight former residents, including seven men from Illinois, who claim they were repeatedly abused by staffers as children. Their attorneys claim they were subjected to years of systemic and horrific abuse.
Chicago-based attorney Martin Gould represents eight anonymous men who say they were sexually abused repeatedly by staffers at the Lord’s Ranch in Warm Springs, Arkansas where they were sent for behavioral problems as minors.
"They were troubled kids from far from home or foster system," he said. "They believed that they were already damaged. They were vulnerable. They were all alone in a remote unfamiliar place."
One of those victims is a man from Illinois using the alias John Doe #2, who said he was abused by the head counselor Emmett Presley between 1991 and 1996 - despite reporting it to camp leaders.
"He made the inappropriate advances all over again," he said. "Nothing changed. All of this has been a huge burden on my shoulders for 30 plus years."
The attorneys said a new Arkansas law gives them until the end of January to file this and other child sex abuse lawsuits in this case.
WBBM has reached out to lawyers for the defendants for comment.
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