Jury Adds $1.6 Million in Damages in Group Home Rape

A day after awarding a 13-year-old rape victim $1.2 million, a jury tacked on $1.6 million in punitive damages Thursday in one of three lawsuits against a San Bernardino County foster shelter.

The case was brought on behalf of the boy, who was 11 while living at a group home known as Bronson House in 1999. He was raped at least three times by counselor Steve Ayala, who has pleaded guilty to sodomy and received a six-year prison term.

The jury awarded the punitive damages after two hours of deliberation. The jury ruled that Victor Treatment Centers, the Chico-based nonprofit organization that runs Bronson House, will be responsible for paying $1 million. North Valley School, a facility run by Victor Treatment Centers that was the site of much of the contact between Ayala and the boy, will be responsible for $495,000. Ayala will be responsible for $65,000.

“I don’t think the jury was very happy with them,” said Jack H. Anthony, the boy’s Santa Ana attorney.

It is the first of three similar lawsuits filed against Victor Treatment Centers, one of the largest operators in California’s child welfare system.

The next case is scheduled to go to trial in March.

Neither Victor Treatment Centers Chief Executive David C. Favor nor his Santa Ana attorney, Timothy J. Stafford, could be reached for comment.