Following a two week jury trial, two former foster children, prevailed in a lawsuit against the State for the devastating child sex abuse and rape they suffered 50 years ago at the hands of a now registered sex offender. This is one of the oldest known cases tried to a jury under the laws which allow victims of childhood sexual abuse to sue beyond the statute of limitations if they learn that someone other than the abuser is also negligent.
In 1976, DSHS licensed Robert Dehaan despite his earlier arrest and guilty plea for luring two boys age 13 and 14 into his apartment and masturbating them. In those arrest records, one of the officers recalled that Dehaan, a swim instructor, had also been the subject of another investigation at a boys recreating program. Dehaan who was in his early 20s was given a deferred sentence. During that time he got married and had that union annulled right after the terms of the deferred sentence were met and the case dismissed.
During the same time, one of his supervisors at work became suspicious and worried after Dehaan took pictures of boys in the shower room and displayed them to one of the staff. He began calling around town and collected a dossier of complaints involving improper actions with other boys at the programs, parents up in arms, suspensions and firings
In 1974, Dehaan married his second wife and they had an infant first child when they applied to be foster parents. Both were still in their 20s. DSHS failed to do a proper investigation or background check before licensing Dehaan as a foster parent.
Greg H was 13 when his mother who suffered from muscular dystrophy, had him removed from the home due to her inability to care for him. DSHS placed him with the Dehaans who at the time were living in a “tiny red house.” In violation of standards, the house did not have a bedroom for his use. He lived in an unfinished attic that was never inspected.
The foster family moved to the next house where Greg H was not given a bedroom. Instead he slept on a couch where the sexual abuse began in earnest. A third move occurred and although the teen first slept in a bedroom upstairs, he was soon moved to the unfinished basement which had two rooms roughly finished.
“The very first time he raped me…Sunday morning we go to church…sitting next to him…as his son… It’s just burned into my memory, the shame and embarrassment. It’ll never go away.”
For the next three and a half years, Greg was sexually assaulted by the foster father multiple times a week. There were a few visits by case workers the first year. But that decreased to six months to a year between visits. He was never interviewed outside the presence of the foster parents.
Marty M who is Indigenous was 11 when his mother died in front of him. He was taken into DSHS care and moved around at least seven times (and held back a year in school as a result) before being placed with Dehaan when he was 13. DSHS did not interview Greg H then 16 before the placement to make sure the home was safe.
In 1981, Greg ran away and was taken in by his high school girlfriend’s parents. He reported the abuse to them and they became foster parents to keep him for the next year and a half until he could finish school. Marty was not removed from the Dehaan’s home and suffered ongoing sexual abuse. Until when asked what was going on by one of the kids from church, he admitted what was going on.
Following report of the abuse Dehaan was arrested and pled guilty to one count of statutory rape and one counter of indecent liberties. The charges were reduced to a single count and he served one day in jail and a $500 fine.
Neither Greg nor Marty were interviewed about the specifics of their child sexual abuse by DSHS or CPS. They had no idea what happened to Dehaan. Greg dealt with his emotional trauma by “stuffing everything into a black bag and throwing it away.” Marty was placed by DSHS with a buddy of Dehaan who went to the same church and worked at the same real estate office.
At one point the foster father arranged an intervention in church with Dehaan and the minister who demanded that the child apologize for such false allegations. “I didn’t blame God. But that caused me to hate church. I didn’t understand sexual sin versus forgiveness. And hoped God would let me in.”
DSHS failed to provide any medical or psychological treatment to either child. Though the manual said that in such a case the files should never be destroyed. The state destroyed them.
Both boys went on to serve honorably in the military. Greg went on to become a mechanic and owns his own vehicle repair business. Marty became a beloved school teacher and works in his wife’s day care. Neither had ever been arrested. Neither told their spouses or children any detail of what happened. Nor had they undergone treatment. They had difficulties in their family relationships. Did not have any friends. Had anger outbursts and other emotional issues. And were both in remission from alcohol dependency.
Out of the blue, in 2023, Greg wondered if Dehaan was still alive. Googled and discovered that he was a level 3 sex offender with a long line of sexual assault convictions. He followed the trail back to the 1981 conviction. From there he contacted the police and obtained the report where he learned for the first time that the three and half years of rape he suffered was not even mentioned. He contacted DSHS which was now DCYF and asked for his files. They told him that there were no such records in existence. That is when he contacted Karen Koehler of Stritmatter Law. She began to investigate and filed a lawsuit after discovering that Dehaan had been the subject of a suit against the Salvation Army swim program in the early 2000s.
The State responded to the suit by claiming that it was barred by the statute of limitations, that Greg and Marty were at fault and failed to mitigate their damages (these claims were dismissed by the court before trial). That the claims involved “misplaced responsibility because the State was not negligent and only Dehaan was at fault. The State asked the jury for a defense verdict.
On May 28, 2026, the jury rendered a unanimous verdict. Finding the State acted negligently and that the Statute of Limitations did not bar the action.
The jury found that the total amount of damages amounted to $18,250,000. Of this total the State was held responsible for 32 percent or $5,875,000. The rest of the verdict was attributed to the abusive foster parent’s intentional acts.
The trial team was Karen Koehler, Mo Hamoudi, Darcy Covert. With paralegals Kristin Michaud and Jamie Kessler. Legal Assistant Isaac Rosencranz
