The former director of the Oregon Youth Authority Joe O’Leary, who was fired last week, said he was “floored” when he was placed on administrative leave. He was not aware of how severe a backlog of abuse reports had become, according to an internal investigation done by the state’s Department of Administrative Services released on Thursday night.
But the latest report into the mishandling of abuse complaints at the youth agency said O’Leary should have known about the mishandled complaints, which posed a threat to both youth and staff safety. There were at least two reports in which an OYA employee was accused of sexually abusing a child in custody and was not reported to the state police. The latest report was done by Travis Hampton, the investigator for the Chief Human Resources Office within DAS.
The youth authority is part of the state’s juvenile justice system. It oversees and operates five youth correctional facilities and four transitional facilities, including MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn…