Washington to pay $42 million for failing to protect former Spokane County girl from years of sexual abuse

A Spokane County judge ordered the state of Washington to pay a woman $42 million for failing to protect her from repeated sexual abuse by her stepfather, a convicted child rapist, when she was a child in the 1990s.

Jessica Hilton, now a 40-year-old Arizona resident, said the judgment was the first time she felt someone listened after multiple reports of sexual assault fell on deaf ears, resulting in years of “no hope.”

“It feels overwhelming in all the best ways,” said Hilton, who was raised with her siblings in Spokane. “Oh God, it just feels so good to be seen and heard and validated. It just means the world to me.”

Last month, a jury concluded the Washington State Department of Corrections was negligent in its supervision of Hilton’s stepfather, Ray Mashtare. The jury also decided the state Department of Children, Youth, and Families was negligent in its investigations into her reports of sexual abuse. Spokane County Superior Court Judge Marla Polin handed down the $42 million judgment last week.

Eric Fong, one of Hilton’s attorneys, said the damages in the lawsuit are “through the roof.”

“There’s no amount of money that could ever make up for the destruction of a soul, of a life, of a human, and the horrors that she has to live with because they knew and they left her there,” he said. “This was prolonged negligence over 10, 11 years.”

Child Protective Services received a report in 1989 of sexual abuse allegations against Hilton and her younger sibling, according to the 2022 complaint filed by Hilton against the state.

The case worker sent the report to Spokane police, which led to the investigation into Mashtare for rape of Hilton’s older sibling, court records show. The CPS investigation only focused on Mashtare’s abuse of one victim and did not assess the “full scope of dysfunction and sexual abuse within the Mashtare family,” the complaint alleges.

Mashtare was convicted of first-degree child rape in January 1990 and sentenced that March to probation, which included a sexual offender treatment program.

Mashtare reported in April 1990 to CPS he had a “memory” of an inappropriate incident with Hilton, the complaint says. That incident happened in August 1989, one month before he raped Hilton’s older sibling , when he pulled Hilton’s underwear to the side while she was sleeping.

CPS reported the incident to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and to Mashtare’s Department of Corrections probation officer, the latter of whom determined it was not a probation violation because it happened before the rape conviction. No further investigation appeared to have occurred, and Mashtare was allowed to go back to the house with Hilton and the other children, according to the complaint.

Also that April, Hilton was brought to the emergency room with injuries to her private area from what was reported at the time as “falling off a bunk bed.” Hilton recalled later in her adult life the injuries were actually caused by Mashtare assaulting her. She was 4 at the time and was told to tell the doctor that she had fallen off the bed.

The documentation of the state and the therapists overseeing Mashtare’s sex offender treatment noted Mashtare “is certainly not ready to supervise himself,” was “struggling with fantasy,” and “the more stress he feels the more sexual fantasy he has,” the complaint says. He also wanted “tighter control on visits by us.”

Therapists reported Mashtare was “a heavy manipulator,” was suspected of “trying to get his visitation revoked or supervised” and “panicked over going home” to be with the children.

“Despite Mashtare’s known dangerous propensities, the defendants charged with supervising and treating the sex offender facilitated Mashtare’s harmful access to the children without responsible supervision,” the complaint says.

In July 1990, a second CPS report was taken, again alleging sexual abuse against the 5-year-old Hilton and her younger sibling. Based on records provided by CPS, it was unclear who the perpetrator was or who reported the abuse, according to the complaint.

The complaint alleged the state should have known Mashtare was the abuser and “yet failed to properly investigate or protect the children from the continuing harm.”

Mashtare also repeatedly failed polygraph examinations, with concerns from the polygraph tester that Mashtare was “holding back a lot” and doing “awful” during the testing. During polygraph tests overseen by therapists and the state, Mashtare was flagged for “deceptive” responses to questions about sexual fantasies and child molestation, the complaint says.

“Instead of protecting Jessica Hilton and her siblings, the Defendants actively facilitated Mashtare’s continued access to and sexual molestation of Jessica Hilton,” according to the complaint.

A probation officer noted after a meeting with Hilton and her older sibling that “they know how to protect themselves.”

“It is clear that they don’t fear Ray,” the officer reported. “They like him.”

CPS received additional sexual abuse reports in the late 1990s alleging Mashtare as the perpetrator and Hilton as the victim, but the state failed to hold Mashtare accountable.

In 2001, Mashtare was accused of raping another victim associated with the Mashtare family, but that investigation was “suspended without action,” the complaint says.

“As a result of Defendants’ failure to protect the children in the Mashtare household, Mashtare continued to sexually abuse Jessica Hilton throughout her childhood, leaving her with profound psychological harm and damage with which she continues to struggle,” according to the complaint.

Fong, who said he asked for an $88 million judgement, said his client would trade the $42 million in a “heartbeat” for a normal childhood. Instead, she’s left with flashbacks that make her feel like she’s reliving her abuse.

“It’s a terrible, terrible existence, but she is just an inspiration and just an awe-inspiring person that is really living the best life you can under her horrible circumstances,” Fong said. “She was trapped in a home where she was perpetually abused, and they knew, and no one cared.”

Fong said he’s proud of the multi-million-dollar judgement and that it “moves society in the right direction.”

“There was this verdict of accountability and a real call for change, right?” Fong said. “This is a call for change. This is the public grading the government’s paper and giving them an ‘F,’ so take the feedback and go do good … Let’s fix the problem.”

Fong said CPS has failed at “chronic levels,” not just in Hilton’s case, but in other children’s cases the last several decades.

“There needs to be some accountability,” he said. “Who’s going to hold the government accountable if it isn’t a jury?”