Foster kids seeking $45 million from state

SEATTLE – Three foster children filed a $45 million civil claim against the state Wednesday, saying officials overlooked years of physical and sexual abuse complaints while improperly licensing a man now charged with sexual exploitation.

In their civil claims, two young women and a teenage girl say Enrique Fabregas was improperly granted a state foster care license in 1997 after lying about his criminal convictions and drug use.

During the next nine years, they say, Fabregas sexually and physically abused the girls despite nearly 30 complaints to the state Department of Social and Health Services. Their lawyer said many of those complaints were not passed on to police.

Department officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The three tort claims were filed with the state Wednesday by David P. Moody, of Seattle, a lawyer for the three foster daughters. Moody’s clients are seeking individual damages in the case, along with unspecified punitive damages.

“This guy should never have been licensed, and once he was licensed, the complaints rained down,” Moody said.

Wednesday’s filing is a legal formality that gives the state warning of a pending civil lawsuit. Moody plans to file the civil suit in a state superior court.

Fabregas, of Redmond, was arrested in June. He remains in the King County Jail on $1 million bail, charged with possessing child pornography and taking explicit pictures of a teenage girl.

Police said they began investigating Fabregas earlier in 2006 after one of the women came forward with allegations of abuse.