A woman with an intellectual disability was drugged and sexually abused by a staff member at Oregon's state-run Stabilization and Crisis Unit (SACU) in Salem, according to a $9 million lawsuit filed Oct. 20, 2026 in Multnomah County Circuit Court. The Oregonian/OregonLive reported the complaint, which names the state, former Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) Director Fariborz Pakseresht and the employee.
The suit says the woman, 30, was supposed to be supervised at all times by at least two staff members, one of them a woman, but a male direct support crisis specialist was sometimes alone with her overnight. It alleges he gave her marijuana gummies and medication not prescribed to her and abused her at least three times in late 2024. It says DNA from a hospital exam matched his profile. Her attorney, Peter Janci, said the man was fired. State police are investigating; no criminal charges had been filed as of Oct. 20, and the allegations have not been tested in court.
"Her own care plan said she should never be left alone with a single staff member," Janci said in a statement. ODHS declined to comment, citing the litigation. The complaint ties the failures to chronic understaffing and excessive overtime under Pakseresht, who led ODHS until Oct. 1, 2025.
SACU is already being redesigned
A May 2025 law directed ODHS to write a new SACU work plan to reach full compliance with federal home and community-based services rules and to shorten crisis stays. In a Sept. 28 update, the Office of Developmental Disabilities Services said the plan was due to lawmakers by Sept. 30, 2026, with a first phase starting July 1, 2027.
Why this matters for providers and DSPs
Staffing ratios written into a person's support plan are protections, not targets. When a shift can't meet them, frontline supervisors need a way to escalate that day, and every staff member should know how to report a concern without going through the person involved.