Rescue Mission sex abuse accusations go unreported, raise policy questions

Starving and desperate, Cheryl Foursha stumbled into the Merced County Rescue Mission on a cold February evening last year, looking for a plate of food and a jacket to shield her from the freezing temperatures.

Foursha, a 37-year-old Merced resident, has been ravaged by a methamphetamine addiction the last eight years of her life. She’s not alone. Her story is not unlike that of dozens of others who swarm the hallways of the mission each day, looking for a hot meal and a place to rest their heads.

They are society’s most damaged and broken individuals, as the mission’s leaders call them. They are starving, homeless and addicted. And the mission serves 130,000 meals to those in need every year, leaders said.

But when Foursha got to the mission that February night, dinner had already been served. It wasn’t the first time she had arrived “after hours,” and mission staff members often gave her a bagged meal of leftovers.

This time, however, Foursha found a male employee standing behind the desk alone. Foursha says the man told her that if she wanted to eat that night, she needed to lift her shirt and show him her breasts.

With the ache of hunger mounting in her stomach, Foursha said she complied. “I was homeless and had no place to eat,” she said in a recent interview. “I gave in real quick. But later on, I realized it was wrong.”

That wasn’t the first time a mission staff member targeted her, she claims. On another occasion, Foursha says she was swatted on the butt by a male dishwasher. When she tried to report the incident, she said she was temporarily “banned” from the mission.

Foursha believes the mission’s male employees exploited her by taking advantage of her vulnerabilities – being homeless and struggling with addiction – and then attacked her credibility when she tried to report what happened. “They said, ‘She’s high, you can’t believe anything she says,’ ” Foursha said.

But mission directors say their clients can become disruptive or resentful when asked to follow rules.

In an interview with the Merced Sun-Star, mission CEO Bruce Metcalf acknowledged that Foursha told him about the alleged sexual misconduct during a brief conversation. Metcalf said the incidents she shared happened before he became CEO in 2011.

But Foursha says they happened in the past year, while Metcalf was in charge. She says she initiated three or four meetings with Metcalf to discuss it, but he either canceled or didn’t show up.

“I’ve heard allegations and accusations,” Metcalf said. “I think somewhere along the line, she did mention she was upset with (male employee) because of some past abuses.”

Metcalf kept the issue “in house” by asking the mission’s director of its men’s program, Martin Rose, to investigate the accusations. But that’s where it ended. Metcalf acknowledged there was no follow-up on the investigation or its findings.

“I talked to the employee’s supervisor, which was Martin (Rose), and he was supposed to look into it,” Metcalf said. “It was Martin’s job to investigate it and get back to me, but he never did. I think Martin spoke with him, but I don’t remember what came out of that.”

In January 2014, Rose was let go from the mission. Rose said mission officials told him he was fired for not being a “team player.” However, Rose believes it was because he blew the whistle on mission employees, including Metcalf, for misleading the public about the number of turkeys donated for Thanksgiving dinner.

Metcalf alleges Rose took client files when he was terminated, so there’s no evidence of him looking into Foursha’s complaints. But in a Sun-Star interview, Rose denied taking files from the mission or being asked by Metcalf to investigate the accusations.

“When I told Metcalf we really need to look into these claims, he said, ‘I will look into it. Martin, I will take care of it,’ ” Rose said. “When I followed up, he said, ‘You can’t believe these women of the streets. They have abuse issues, and you can’t believe what they say.’ ”

The male employee at the center of Foursha’s claims still works at the mission. However, he was moved to another shift where he has less contact with clients. Metcalf said the move was because of a reorganization and unrelated to the accusation.

Less than a week after his interview with the Sun-Star, Metcalf put the employee on administrative leave while he “looks into” the claims.

Police weren’t contacted

The Rescue Mission investigates such complaints, Metcalf said, but he did not elaborate on the process. He noted the organization’s anti-fraternizing policies to discourage staff from mingling with clients.

Metcalf said he didn’t contact police about Foursha’s claims because it was “in the past,” even though the accused employee still worked for the mission. Metcalf said he involves police when a client becomes violent, which he said happens “several times” a month.

Merced Police Department records show 47 calls for service to the mission in the past year, but none related to sexual abuse. Although the mission’s directors were not obligated to report Foursha’s complaint to police because she’s an adult, Capt. Tom Trindad said he would have encouraged it.

“The whole purpose behind it is because if this person was willing to do it once, especially if they feel like they got away with it, they are more apt to do it again,” Trindad said. “If it’s investigated, the hope is we can stop the person from continuing to perform these tasks against victims.”

But mission leaders said the people they serve can often become disruptive and retaliatory when asked to follow rules. Foursha, they said, was one of those problematic clients who became disgruntled.

“We deal with so many hurt people, damaged people. We have incidents happen all the time with people getting upset,” said Larry Joslin, the mission’s director of men’s services. “Sometimes people come after hours and want things, and when we refuse they get angry and threatening.”

Monte Jewell, executive director of Rape Counseling Services of Fresno County, said people who are “hurt” and “damaged” – or face other vulnerabilities such as substance abuse, mental illness or homelessness – are more likely to become targets of perpetrators.

“It’s foreseeable that the people who come to ask for food and shelter are vulnerable,” Jewell said. “Serial perpetrators tend to focus on victims who seem vulnerable because they lack credibility. That allows them to offend repeatedly against other victims because the investigation is stopped before it can get started.”

Outside probe suggested

Jewell said the only way to get to the bottom of what happened and restore confidence in the Rescue Mission is to hire an independent investigator to look into Foursha’s claims. He stressed the investigator should not be affiliated with the mission.

“You need someone to investigate who doesn’t have any loyalties or connections with the organization that’s being investigated,” he said.

Leaders at a neighboring rescue mission say their policies are clear when it comes to handling sexual abuse or misconduct accusations.

“I would probably immediately involve the police, at least that’s my policy at the mission,” said Kevin Carroll, executive director of the Modesto Gospel Mission. “We would, of course, do our own internal investigation, but I’d call the police into the investigation to make sure things are being done right.”

Involving law enforcement offers the Modesto mission another layer of protection, Carroll said. “It’s just to have another piece of documentation,” he said, adding that he would still investigate by personally speaking with both the employee and victim.

As for Foursha, she hasn’t been back to the mission in months and moved into a permanent home in downtown Merced. But for the sake of other women, she said she hopes something is done to put a stop to it.

“If they did it to me, they’re doing it to other women,” she said.

This story was originally published January 16, 2015 at 7:43 PM with the headline "Rescue Mission sex abuse accusations go unreported, raise policy questions."