An investigation released Tuesday by Nebraska’s Inspector General of Child Welfare said a “highly sexualized culture” was “normalized” at a state-run detention center for teens in Kearney.
The report is the culmination of a yearlong investigation into reports of sexual abuse of youth detainees by staff members at the state-run Kearney Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center, or YTRC. Four former staff members, all women, are facing criminal charges for sexual abuse.
According to the report, the Inspector General’s Office has been notified of 44 sexual abuse allegations by 37 separate youth against 19 individual staff members at the Kearney facility in a yearlong period beginning last March. Seven of those cases have been substantiated by compliance reviews and criminal investigations. Another 15 were unsubstantiated, meaning there wasn’t enough evidence to determine whether or not the allegation occurred.
Of the 19 staff members who the teens accused of inappropriate behavior, 11 had been “previously written-up, verbally counseled, placed on disciplinary probation, or were previously named by youth in sexual abuse or boundary-related allegations,” according to the report.
One staff member who is now facing criminal charges had been reported by six other teens for inappropriate behavior since 2022. Another staff member had been counseled for sitting too close to a teen just weeks before she was seen on video kissing and groping a different teen in a stairwell.
The report said those repeated, consistent allegations are indicative of a broader cultural issue at the facility, despite staff and administration officials blaming the incidents on “a few bad apples.”
“Based on the evidence reviewed in this investigation, the consistent institutional enforcement of professional staff and youth boundaries did not appear to exist at YRTC-Kearney in practice, even if it was described in policy, and it will not develop without intentional and consistent effort from facility staff and leadership,” the report said.
In a response to a list of recommendations made in the report, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, which operates the state’s YRTCs, rejected the characterization of the allegations as indicative of a problematic culture at the facility.
“It is unreasonable for the [Office of the Inspector General] to assert that a culture that normalizes inappropriate staff behavior exists and that the facility failed to address said systemic culture problem, when they themselves failed to identify any such problem over the last ten years,” the agency said.
The substantiated reports
A total of seven cases were deemed substantiated after internal compliance reviews and, in some cases, criminal investigations. Additional investigations are ongoing, according to the report.
In one case from March 2025, according to the report, a teen was found with a phone that contained explicit photos and videos of a staff member. The staff member and the teen discussed living together in the future, and she referred to him as her “future hubby.” The teen later said he and the staff member had “engaged in sexual activities” in the facility, the report said.
In another, a staff member reported a teen for touching her thigh, which resulted in the teen being placed into confinement. But video footage showed the staff member “allowing [the teen] to touch her buttocks and holding [his] hands on her hips while his pelvis touched her buttocks as they descended a stairwell,” the report said.
The same teen made another allegation of inappropriate touching against a different staff member, which was deemed unsubstantiated after a compliance review — but the staff member resigned and is now facing criminal charges.
A fourth incident uncovered in September 2025 similarly led to a teen being punished after a staff member alleged he had touched her inappropriately. Video footage showed the staff member and teen “kissing and groping” in a stairwell, according to the report.
All of those incidents resulted in criminal prosecution. One woman, 29-year-old Martha Ruiz-Palacios, was sentenced to two years in jail in May after pleading no contest to two misdemeanors. The cases are ongoing for the three other women: Jessica Camacho, 37, Katrina Fewkes, 44, and Tarah Ross, 23.
The three other substantiated incidents did not result in criminal charges. One included a male staff member who hit a teen in the genitals with an ice pack and then attempted to bribe him not to tell other staff. The incident was caught on video and the staff member was later terminated. Of the 19 staff members named in the teens’ allegations, he was the only male.
Two staff members, both women, had substantiated allegations of making inappropriate comments to youth and, in one case, watching them masturbate from the doorway of their rooms.
The compliance process
The Office of Juvenile Services Compliance Department, or Compliance, is responsible for investigating any allegations of sexual abuse at the YRTCs. These are non-criminal, administrative investigations meant to determine whether or not the incident occurred and if the facility adhered to regulations and state and federal law.
The Inspector General’s report said these investigations are “important,” but are limited in multiple ways. It also found that the Compliance investigations repeatedly failed to identify facility-wide issues and consistently blamed teens for initiating inappropriate relationships without acknowledgement of their age or protected status. Some reports were classified as ‘unfounded,’ meaning they were deemed to not have happened, when they likely should have been ‘unsubstantiated,’ meaning the evidence was unclear.
The report recommends shifting back to a previous policy of having the Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Child and Family Services conduct an assessment to determine if abuse or neglect occurred at the facility. That would also allow DHHS personnel to place the offending staff on the state’s Child Abuse and Neglect Central Registry – a power that Compliance does not have.
“DHHS should not apply a different standard to its own employees than it applies to every other person who allegedly abuses or neglects a child in their care,” the report said. “In every other setting outside of the YRTCs, with the exception of detention centers, CFS has the authority and obligation to investigate an allegation of child abuse or neglect and, if the allegation is supported by the evidence, will place that person on the Central Registry to prevent that person from further working with youth. YRTC staff should not be exempt from this same process merely because they work at a DHHS-operated facility.”
In response to the recommendation, DHHS said conducting the assessments would be a conflict of interest, and said the agency does not have the authority to conduct those assessments in YRTCs – which the Inspector General’s report said is likely not true. Though DHHS is not required in state law to conduct the assessments at YRTCs, it is also not barred from doing so.
Changes made at YRTC
Before the report was published, DHHS sent the Inspector General’s Office a lengthy list of changes made at the Kearney YRTC to address issues.
Those changes include creating a standard operating procedure for interested parties, like parents and the teen’s attorneys, to be notified of sexual abuse allegations. Unannounced rounds by supervisory and administrative staff were doubled. The agency instituted a clear-bag policy and is exploring options to expand coverage of surveillance cameras and eliminate blind spots.
Earlier this month, DHHS announced a leadership change after the top administrator at the Kearney YRTC was fired in March. Camella Jacobe, administrator of the YRTC-Hastings facility, will serve as interim youth facilities senior administrator overseeing the YRTCs in Kearney, Hastings and Lincoln.
In a response to the report on Tuesday, DHHS also highlighted a June audit conducted by the Commission on the Accreditation for Corrections, which showed the facility at 100% compliance on mandatory and non-mandatory practices.
“Overall, the audit team found the facility to be operating at a high level of professionalism and in alignment with best practices in correctional management,” the agency said.
The Legislative Oversight Committee, which oversees the Office of the Inspector General, said in a statement that it was grateful for the report and would review the law changes recommended in it.
“Oversight does not end with the publication of a report,” the statement said. “Meaningful accountability requires sustained attention, measurable progress, and continued transparency. The task now turns to the Judiciary and the Health and Human Services committee to monitor changes that may be necessary based on the Inspector General’s recommendations, request regular public updates regarding corrective actions, and evaluate whether additional legislative action is necessary to strengthen protections for youth in state custody.”
