Acadia Healthcare: Lawsuit against Desert Hills Psych Facility Alleges Staff Forced 14-year-old Patient into Sexual Relationship

June 29, 2025

A worker was allowed to sexually abuse a teenage boy in 2018 at a long-shuttered Albuquerque-based residential treatment center for youth, according to a new lawsuit.

Desert Hills of New Mexico, initially operated by Youth and Family Centered Services of New Mexico Inc., faced numerous allegations of abuse and neglect — including sexual assaults — before it was closed by the state in early 2019.

The lawsuit filed earlier this month in the First Judicial District Court alleges a worker forced a 14-year-old boy into a sexual relationship. The boy arrived around August 2018 after being removed from his home in Delaware, according to the suit.

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