Man found guilty of holding a teenager down during a 1998 rape at a youth center

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) – A New Hampshire jury on Tuesday found a former leader of a juvenile detention center guilty of holding down a teenager who was raped in 1998.

After a four-day trial, the jury deliberated for three days.

Bradley Asburynow 70, was found guilty of both counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated sexual assault. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each charge.

Asbury served as a house leader at the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester. He was accused of immobilizing 14-year-old Michael Gilpatrick in a stairwell with the help of a friend, while a third employee raped the teenager and a fourth forced him to perform a sex act.

It was the second criminal trial arising from an extensive 2019 investigation into long-term abuse at the center. Asbury is one of 11 men arrested who worked there or at a related facility in Concord.

The case centered on the testimony of Gilpatrick, now 41. He said he had struggled with the attack for many years and that talking about it at trial was part of the healing process.

He said he wanted to hold the perpetrators accountable and recalled having an out-of-body experience during the attack.

“I see it happening, but I can’t do anything,” he testified. “I just wasn’t there. But there.

During cross-examination, Gilpatrick engaged in several heated exchanges, at one point calling a defense attorney a “sick man” as he urged him to repeat his rape claims over and over again.

During closing arguments, attorney David Rothstein said, “I want to apologize to anyone I may have upset during this or any other exchange.”

Rothstein said Gilpatrick lived in an imaginary world where he created villains to explain what went wrong in his life.

“Mike Gilpatrick falsely accused Brad Asbury of a crime that not only did he not commit, but that was virtually impossible for him to commit in any shape or form,” Rothstein said.

He said there were no eyewitnesses or corroborating evidence and that Gilpatrick changed key details over time to fit the narrative. He said that such an attack on the open staircase in the center of the facility could have been seen or heard by someone else.

He said Gilpatrick was motivated by money, pointing out that he had already received more than $146,000 in anticipated payouts from a related civil case.

The prosecution said Gilpatrick did not remember perfectly all the events surrounding the rape, but he always consistently remembered the most important event. Prosecutors said he couldn’t tell anyone at the time because Asbury was in power.

“Instead of guiding Mike, advising him and showing him a better way to get out and live his life, these four adult men, including the defendant, violated trust,” said Assistant State Attorney General Adam Woods.

An earlier case against Victor Malavet ended in a mistrial in September after jurors deadlocked on whether he raped a girl at the Concord facility. A new trial in the case has not yet been scheduled.

The investigation also led to extensive civil proceedings. More than 1,100 former residents have filed lawsuits alleging physical, sexual or emotional abuse over six decades. In the only civil case to go to trial so far, a jury in May awarded David Meehan $38 million for abuse he claims he suffered in the 1990s, although that verdict remains in dispute as the state seeks to reduce this amount to $475,000.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been victims of sexual assault unless they have come forward publicly, as Meehan and Gilpatrick did.