Southwood Psychiatric Hospital
PITTSBURGH - At least three sexual abuse lawsuits were filed in Pittsburgh state court recently, against a variety of defendants including the Salvation Army.
Other defendants in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas are Bible Chapel Ministries and Southwood Psychiatric Hospital.
B.B., et al., v. Acadia Healthcare
Five minors sued Acadia, doing business as Southwood Psychiatric Hospital, on June 2. Southwood is a residential treatment facility for juveniles in Pittsburgh.
The suit says children have suffered sexual abuse at the hands of guards and counselors at Southwood for decades, with employees regularly offered cigarettes, drugs and alcohol in return for sexual favors.
Acadia should have known the conditions at its hospitals would lead to sexual abuse, the suit says, citing a 2024 report on abuse at its Options Behavioral Health Hospital, allegations children were drugged and abused in 2019 at a Tampa, Fla., facility, a 2025 lawsuit in Detroit and a massive 2023 jury verdict finding Acadia liable for a child raped at a New Mexico facility.
Allegations in this lawsuit say an employee would medicate a young girl, then hold her down while groping her. More than once, he forced the plaintiff to perform oral sex, the suit says, and performed unwanted intercourse.
The abuser would, in exchange, allegedly give the girl a double dose of medication and candy.
A lack of supervision allowed staff to "corner" victims and threaten them with assault and murder if they resisted, the suit says.
Representing the plaintiffs is Jason Luckasevic of Goldberg, Persky & White.
J.H. v. Bible Chapel Ministries
A 13-year-old girl with Down Syndrome says she was sexually abused in January at a youth group at Bible Chapel, which has a special needs ministry.
The alleged perpetrator's mother volunteered at the ministry, and a week after the assault the church's pastor told the girl's parents that family had to leave their previous church because the son had abused a young member of the church on a playground, the suit says.
"Bible Chapel touts its Special Needs Ministry as a place where: 'you can attend church services without worry' and 'all of our staff and volunteers are rigorously screened, cleared and trained,'" the suit says.
"Sadly for Plaintiff, that was not the case."
The youth group lasted until 8:30 p.m. that night, with the girl's father claiming he wasn't told of the abuse until it was over - even though it had occurred at 7 p.m. It was reported to have lasted seven minutes and included the perpetrator forcing the girl's hands into his pants.
Veronica Hubbard of Andreozzi + Foote represents the plaintiff.
D.C. v. The Salvation Army Western Pennsylvania Division, et al.
These allegations involve the Salvation Army's "Camp Allegheny" in Ellwood City and former counselor Nicholas Rose, who has admitted to having sex with a 14-year-old girl when he was 20.
The lawsuit seems to be brought over the incident. It says Rose began grooming the plaintiff in June 2022 that progressed to sexual contact and that rather than separate the two, the Salvation Army put Rose on kitchen duty, where the plaintiff worked.
A supervisor who saw the two kissing also failed to put a stop to the conduct, the suit says, and others failed to adequately investigate and secure the plaintiff.
A hickey on the girl still didn't convince the Salvation Army to terminate Rose's employment, the suit says. The girl reported unprotected intercourse to a staff member on July 28, 2022.
Rose still faces criminal charges including statutory sexual assault. In 2022, he pleaded guilty to cruelty to animals, the suit says.
Nadeem Bezard and other attorneys at Kline & Specter filed the suit on May 27.
