UPPER ST. CLAIR, Pa. — During a five-hour drive from across the state last month, a 16-year-old girl told police she was raped inside the medical transport van she was riding in.
She was finally dropped at Southwood Children’s Behavioral Center in Upper Saint Clair, where she told staff she had been sexually assaulted.
Right now police are releasing very little information.
“We don’t know the name of the hospital that set up her transportation, nor do we know the name of the transport service that brought the teen to Southwood,” attorney Amy Mathieu said. “It’s very difficult for any child or teenager to seek out mental health treatment. It’s not an easy process.”
Attorney Amy Mathieu specializes in sexual assault cases and has worked with countless juvenile victims and knows what the aftermath can be like.
“It entirely eviscerates a child’s trust in adults, a child’s trust in systems. Healthcare practitioners in general. It makes it even harder then to seek further treatment that they so desperately need in reaction to what happens there,” Mathieu said.
11 Investigates reported on a very similar case more than a decade ago.
In 2016, Met-Van transport driver Scott Weimer was accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl while driving her to Southwood Hospital from Johnston.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE >>> Med-Van driver accused of having sex with teen he was taking to hospital
At the time, the case was so disturbing to then-state representative Dom Costa that he introduced a bill that would require a caretaker, parent, or guardian to accompany anyone who was unable to make sound decisions during a transport.
The bill failed, but if it hadn’t, Costa told Channel 11, this alleged assault may not have happened.
“It was preventable. If we would have done what we said we were going to do back then, if it would have went through and been put in place, we wouldn’t have a victim today,” Costa said.
At this point, no one has been charged in the alleged assault.
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