New Hampshire Settles Girls' Sexual Abuse Suit For $6.75M

CONCORD, N.H. - The state of New Hampshire last week agreed to pay to pay $6.75 million to two young girls who were sexually abused by their biological parents while in foster care. According to the AP, the 2016 Division for Children, Youth and Families lawsuit, filed by the girls' grandparents, alleges the girl's parents were allowed to have unsupervised visits with the girls in 2013, even though police were investigating reports they had molested other children at a homeless shelter.

The parents are serving 25 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to child pornography and sexually abusing the girls, then 18 months old and 4 years old.

Attorney Rus Rilee represents the girls and their grandparents, who adopted the sisters and will get $500,000 of the settlement. He said Thursday he’s glad the girls, now 5 and 8, will be able to afford the help they need to recover.

“Every day’s a struggle for them,” Rilee said. “I’m very happy with the outcome because it means these girls can finally get the medical treatment they desperately need and a chance at a normal life.”

According to the lawsuit, the couple videotaped more than a dozen incidents in which the girls were assaulted, including one in which the older girl’s mouth was covered with duct tape and her hands bound behind her back. After one visit in November 2013, the girls’ grandmother saw the younger girl rubbing a paintbrush against her genitals and when asked what she was doing answered, “Mommy and Daddy do it — no they don’t, don’t tell, I’ll get in trouble!” The grandparents immediately went to police, and the parents were arrested about 10 days later.

To read the full story, head to WHDH.