Shaelyn Nielsen remembers the door of the large upstairs bedroom opening early that morning and the sound of breathing growing nearer.
The 18-year-old tried feigning sleep as, she said, the man who’d been a father figure to her for more than a year slid into her bed and groped her under her oversized T-shirt and moon-and-star pajama bottoms. As he rubbed himself against her from behind, she said, she resisted and cried muffled tears.
Chiding her, she alleges, Sherdale Green, a father of two, told her the boys living at Boys Town were not what she wanted, saying: “You know only I can give you what you want.”
Nielsen said she now recognizes, at age 25, the inappropriate touching, hugs and grooming leading up to that moment in 2016 with a house parent at Boys Town, the storied 106-year-old Omaha youth home, co-ed since 1979, that markets itself as a haven for healing and hope.
She said she didn't realize until that morning, just weeks before she was headed to college, that she was living with a predator.
Neither Green nor his lawyer responded to requests for interviews about the sexual abuse allegations laid out in a civil lawsuit brought against him and Boys Town by Nielsen and a former housemate, Tayler Weatherall. In a court document responding to the lawsuit, Green and Boys Town denied the allegations.
In September, Weatherall, 24, reached a private, out-of-court settlement with the charity. Nielsen's case is scheduled to go to trial next year.
The allegations against the iconic Nebraska home come amid a national reckoning over abuse suffered by youth placed by courts or parents inside residential facilities ― a well-documented problem that has gained bipartisan attention from a coalition of lawmakers in Congress. Whether tough-love boarding schools, wilderness camps or bare-bones, for-profit operations, facilities across the country have closed in droves over the last decade following media exposés, criminal probes and state investigations.
Boys Town ― one of the oldest, largest, wealthiest and most-renowned youth-focused charities in the country ― has largely skirted the kind of scrutiny and scandals that have dogged other facilities. Donors across the country, moved by the mission and legend of Boys Town founder Msgr. Edward J. Flanagan, continue to shower the nonprofit with contributions and bequests ― almost $817 million from 2017 to 2021, its tax filings show.
But crime data obtained by the Des Moines Register shows 12 rapes were reported at Boys Town in Omaha over the past five years. The reports include a case reported in 2018 where a different Boys Town house parent had sex with a 15-year-old ward in Boys Town's care. Secrecy cloaks the remainder of the reports; Boys Town police refused to release even basic details, an investigation by the Register found.
The 12 rape reports were made at Boys Town during a time when it has operated at less than half its licensed capacity. Fewer than 300 children have been housed in its family-style foster homes in recent years — fewer than those enrolled in many U.S. elementary schools.
Neither Nebraska's inspector general for child welfare nor Disability Rights Nebraska, which are charged under state and federal law with providing added oversight, investigated the alleged rapes, according to the directors of both agencies.
Boys Town uses its own hired security and has its own village police department, which officials representing the charity said operates independently from the organization. Violent crime statistics compiled by the police department over the past five years also included reports of six aggravated assaults and at least 111 other assaults.
And those numbers, obtained from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program and the Nebraska Crime Commission, by definition are incomplete. The FBI reports from 2018 and 2019 exclude nonaggravated assaults, which are not required to be reported to the FBI.
Boys Town Police Chief William Clark, who declined to be interviewed for this article, refused to provide police incident reports detailing the 12 reports of rape on campus, even with the names of minors redacted. Contacted by certified mail after he failed to respond to messages, Clark cited a section of Nebraska law that gives law enforcement discretion to withhold investigatory reports.
In contrast, other law enforcement agencies in Nebraska, including authorities in Omaha and Platte County, where Boys Town has an alternative school, have released the same kinds of police incident reports.
For data collection purposes, the federal Justice Department defines rape this way: "Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim. Attempts or assaults to commit rape are also included; however, statutory rape and incest are excluded."
John Collins, a Brooklyn, New York, media consultant hired by Boys Town, said he had not seen the incident reports written by Boys Town police in connection with the dozen reports of rape. Nonetheless, he suggested repeatedly in discussions with the Register that the offenses were not rapes but instead mere touching among high schoolers.
Fifteen years ago, Congress’ watchdog, the Government Accountability Office, warned federal lawmakers of the need to better protect already traumatized children from physical, emotional and sexual abuse at public and private residential facilities.
The agency studied over 1,500 cases of child maltreatment ― one year's worth ― in 34 states and numerous examples of deaths in the multibillion-dollar industry. Armed with that evidence, members of Congress tried for years to pass federal legislation that would establish minimum standards to protect youth and provide a way for the public to check for substantiated cases of abuse at the facilities.
Last year, the GAO released a new report, and renewed a call to action, saying the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services should facilitate information-sharing among states to better prevent and address abuse. Stakeholders in that research said states also needed to take action to hold facilities more accountable and improve oversight and training for facility staff and state investigators.
This year, 46 members of the U.S. House, both Republicans and Democrats, and 15 members of the Senate, including former Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, a Republican, have co-sponsored legislation aimed at increased transparency in child residential care, signaling anew they want more oversight and accountability.
As with many children who have been placed in long-term congregate care, Nielsen said she felt very much alone after she arrived at Boys Town at age 15 from Port Huron, Michigan.
The 18-year-old tried feigning sleep as, she said, the man who’d been a father figure to her for more than a year slid into her bed and groped her under her oversized T-shirt and moon-and-star pajama bottoms. As he rubbed himself against her from behind, she said, she resisted and cried muffled tears.
Chiding her, she alleges, Sherdale Green, a father of two, told her the boys living at Boys Town were not what she wanted, saying: “You know only I can give you what you want.”
Nielsen said she now recognizes, at age 25, the inappropriate touching, hugs and grooming leading up to that moment in 2016 with a house parent at Boys Town, the storied 106-year-old Omaha youth home, co-ed since 1979, that markets itself as a haven for healing and hope.
She said she didn't realize until that morning, just weeks before she was headed to college, that she was living with a predator.
Neither Green nor his lawyer responded to requests for interviews about the sexual abuse allegations laid out in a civil lawsuit brought against him and Boys Town by Nielsen and a former housemate, Tayler Weatherall. In a court document responding to the lawsuit, Green and Boys Town denied the allegations.
In September, Weatherall, 24, reached a private, out-of-court settlement with the charity. Nielsen's case is scheduled to go to trial next year.
The allegations against the iconic Nebraska home come amid a national reckoning over abuse suffered by youth placed by courts or parents inside residential facilities ― a well-documented problem that has gained bipartisan attention from a coalition of lawmakers in Congress. Whether tough-love boarding schools, wilderness camps or bare-bones, for-profit operations, facilities across the country have closed in droves over the last decade following media exposés, criminal probes and state investigations.
Boys Town ― one of the oldest, largest, wealthiest and most-renowned youth-focused charities in the country ― has largely skirted the kind of scrutiny and scandals that have dogged other facilities. Donors across the country, moved by the mission and legend of Boys Town founder Msgr. Edward J. Flanagan, continue to shower the nonprofit with contributions and bequests ― almost $817 million from 2017 to 2021, its tax filings show.
But crime data obtained by the Des Moines Register shows 12 rapes were reported at Boys Town in Omaha over the past five years. The reports include a case reported in 2018 where a different Boys Town house parent had sex with a 15-year-old ward in Boys Town's care. Secrecy cloaks the remainder of the reports; Boys Town police refused to release even basic details, an investigation by the Register found.
The 12 rape reports were made at Boys Town during a time when it has operated at less than half its licensed capacity. Fewer than 300 children have been housed in its family-style foster homes in recent years — fewer than those enrolled in many U.S. elementary schools.
Neither Nebraska's inspector general for child welfare nor Disability Rights Nebraska, which are charged under state and federal law with providing added oversight, investigated the alleged rapes, according to the directors of both agencies.
Boys Town uses its own hired security and has its own village police department, which officials representing the charity said operates independently from the organization. Violent crime statistics compiled by the police department over the past five years also included reports of six aggravated assaults and at least 111 other assaults.
And those numbers, obtained from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program and the Nebraska Crime Commission, by definition are incomplete. The FBI reports from 2018 and 2019 exclude nonaggravated assaults, which are not required to be reported to the FBI.
Boys Town Police Chief William Clark, who declined to be interviewed for this article, refused to provide police incident reports detailing the 12 reports of rape on campus, even with the names of minors redacted. Contacted by certified mail after he failed to respond to messages, Clark cited a section of Nebraska law that gives law enforcement discretion to withhold investigatory reports.
In contrast, other law enforcement agencies in Nebraska, including authorities in Omaha and Platte County, where Boys Town has an alternative school, have released the same kinds of police incident reports.
For data collection purposes, the federal Justice Department defines rape this way: "Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim. Attempts or assaults to commit rape are also included; however, statutory rape and incest are excluded."
John Collins, a Brooklyn, New York, media consultant hired by Boys Town, said he had not seen the incident reports written by Boys Town police in connection with the dozen reports of rape. Nonetheless, he suggested repeatedly in discussions with the Register that the offenses were not rapes but instead mere touching among high schoolers.
Fifteen years ago, Congress’ watchdog, the Government Accountability Office, warned federal lawmakers of the need to better protect already traumatized children from physical, emotional and sexual abuse at public and private residential facilities.
The agency studied over 1,500 cases of child maltreatment ― one year's worth ― in 34 states and numerous examples of deaths in the multibillion-dollar industry. Armed with that evidence, members of Congress tried for years to pass federal legislation that would establish minimum standards to protect youth and provide a way for the public to check for substantiated cases of abuse at the facilities.
Last year, the GAO released a new report, and renewed a call to action, saying the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services should facilitate information-sharing among states to better prevent and address abuse. Stakeholders in that research said states also needed to take action to hold facilities more accountable and improve oversight and training for facility staff and state investigators.
This year, 46 members of the U.S. House, both Republicans and Democrats, and 15 members of the Senate, including former Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, a Republican, have co-sponsored legislation aimed at increased transparency in child residential care, signaling anew they want more oversight and accountability.
As with many children who have been placed in long-term congregate care, Nielsen said she felt very much alone after she arrived at Boys Town at age 15 from Port Huron, Michigan.
Reports of sex abuse at iconic Boys Town youth home in Omaha kept secret from public
Boys Town, the renowned Omaha youth home, largely polices itself. Reports of child sex abuse are cloaked in secrecy, the Des Moines Register reports.
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