BUTTE (AP) — A Montana woman has filed a lawsuit against the state child and family services agency saying it failed to protect her from her mother’s boyfriend, who was eventually convicted of raping and impregnating her when she was 11.
The lawsuit was filed last week by the 21-year-old woman against the Division of Child and Family Services, The Montana Standard reported. The woman is seeking unspecified damages to address emotional distress, anxiety, and fear.
The state’s health department declined to comment about the pending litigation.
The victims of sexual assault cannot be identified by the Associated Press.
The woman claimed that her mother had used drugs and that she and her brother were in care of children and family services ever since she was 7. The lawsuit states that the siblings lived with their mother and biological father for several years. They also had their grandparents.
The lawsuit claims that the agency placed the girl with William Thomas Spencer, her mother’s boyfriend, in 2011
They were living together in Billings when they were discovered by a doctor that the 12-year old girl was pregnant. Court records also show that she had been raped at 11 years old.
According to the lawsuit, Spencer and the agency had left the girl alone in the house after Spencer was born in May 2014.
According to court records, the grandmother of the girl requested genetic testing which proved that Spencer was the father of her baby. Spencer was brought in to the house and removed her.
The lawsuit claims that DPHHS “left the 12-year-old victim of rape in the home, along with the rapist for 203 days after the initial rape report.”
As part of a plea deal, Spencer pleaded guilty in July 2015 to having sexual intercourse without consent and was sentenced for 30 years. According to the Standard, Spencer’s defense lawyer claimed that his use of Ambien, a prescription sleep aid, contributed significantly to his conduct.
