AUSTIN, Texas — KVUE has learned that Justin Lewis, director of child care investigations at the Department of Family Protective Services (DFPS), has resigned, as a Texas House committee on Monday is taking a look at allegations of abuse at a Bastrop shelter for young sex trafficking survivors.
According to his resignation letter, Lewis said two of his staff "were put on public display to the legislature, while other divisions (with far more folks involved) were not mentioned." Lewis had previously cleared the Refuge after trafficking allegations.
Court records show he called U.S. District Judge Janis Jack a derogatory term, and said "she needs to get hit by a bus," records show.
The person who received and reported the texts said the director apologized. "He was inebriated when he sent the text," records show.
While an investigation is underway and an arrest has been made, the Texas Rangers said on March 16 that there is no evidence that any of the girls at the facility were sexually abused or trafficked while at that shelter. However, the Rangers did confirm cases of child exploitation.
As of March 21, the Rangers, the facility and the State all said two children were exploited. Nude pictures of the girls were sold for cash or drugs, records show. One former employee of The Refuge is under investigation for allegedly having nude photos of girls staying at the shelter.
As of March 17, that person had not been arrested. Another former employee has been arrested for lying to investigators about girls who ran away from The Refuge last month.
The Refuge for DMST (Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking) serves sex trafficking survivors between the ages of 11 and 17.
Last Thursday, the Texas Senate Special Committee on Child Protective Services questioned the Department of Family Protective Services (DFPS) regarding the allegations. Now it's the House's turn to take up the issue and continue pressing both the DFPS and Texas Department of Public Safety for answers about what happed at The Refuge.
Brooke Crowder, founder and CEO of The Refuge, was one of those who testified. According to a report from KVUE's news partners at the Austin American-Statesman, she corroborated that two teenage girls in their care were "groomed" by a former employee at the facility, who then sold the nude photos, subsequently supplying them with drugs earlier this year.
She reported that one of the girls first reported it to a staff member on Jan. 24, saying that a female employee had groomed herself and another minor to take the photos of themselves, which the employee then sold online, later giving them prescription drugs as a "reward."
This employee was reportedly on staff for about five months as an "overnight awake staff member." Her role was to monitor the girls assigned in a cabin as part of the shelter's effort to provide 24-hour care. Crowder said both victims were assigned to the employee's cabin.
Crowder said after verifying the story with the other victim, The Refuge immediately reported it to the DFPS and the Bastrop County Sheriff's Office. The employee was terminated on the same day the incident was first reported, she said. She added that the employee had passed a pre-employment background check and, according to her resume, she had worked at six other state-contracted foster care facilities in the past.
Read the Statesman's full report here.
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