State to pay $1.75 million to boy raped by foster father

SEATTLE (AP) - The state health department will pay $1.75 million to a boy who was raped by his foster father.

The Seattle Times reports (https://bit.ly/1Kcj7wa ) that the Department of Social and Health Services has agreed to put the money into a trust fund to settle a civil suit filed on behalf of the boy, who was 4 and 5 years old at the time of the assaults.

Attorney Tim Tesh represents the boy and blames DSHS for licensing 41-year-old Richard Jason Boothby as a foster parent even though he was convicted of a sex crime as a juvenile. Boothby told the agency he stole a car.

Boothby pleaded guilty to two counts of child rape in 2011 and is serving an 18-year prison sentence.

DSHS officials declined to comment on the settlement Friday.

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Information from: The Seattle Times, https://www.seattletimes.com