“There is no greater betrayal of trust than the sexual abuse of an innocent child,” said Greg Kafoury, who represents the alleged victims, to the Oregonian. “The experience of many children needs to be reconsidered in light of these young women’s revelations.”

Chouinard faults Vermeer Manufacturing for allegedly failing to make use of “readily available technology” that could have shut off the machine when his body came into contact with it, according to the suit.

According to the U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration, 39 workers have died in wood chipper incidents over 10 years from 1996 through 2005, the latest years from which data is available.

“Despite having received complaints of devastating sexual abuse of staff and residents, West Hills did not report Mekonen to authorities,” said attorney Mark McDougal, who is representing the plaintiffs, to the Oregonian. “Instead they gave him a great reference, which allowed him to move on to Providence and continue his abuse of vulnerable women.”

According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, 1,424 cases of human trafficking in hotels and motels were reported between 2007 and 2015, involving 1,867 victims. In 2016 alone, 7,572 human trafficking cases were reported nationwide, including 151 in Pennsylvania.

“The bill talks about a cap, but I call it a price tag,” said Brenda Tracy. “I feel like a $500,000 cap is really just a price tag on what my life is worth and what my experience is worth as rape survivor.”

Oregon currently limits court penalties for causing pain and suffering to $500,000, but that amount is not enough to encourage institutions to correct systemic problems of sexual abuse, unsafe workplaces and negligence, victims said at the state’s capitol in February.

Less than three years after going public with her story of surviving sexual assault for the first time, Brenda Tracy has now shared the painful details of, and fallout from, her alleged gang rape across the country.

The retellings never get easier, she said.

But after waiting 16 years to first describe to The Oregonian/OregonLive the 1998 night in Corvallis when four football players, including two from Oregon State, allegedly gang raped her, Tracy is grateful for the opportunities to be heard by college athletes, administrators and coaches from Corvallis to Dallas, and Wyoming to Oklahoma.

Back in 1998, when Tracy was 24, she was gang-raped by four football players, she told the team.

Two of her attackers played for Oregon State University, she continued. When the charges were dropped, and the players received nothing more than a one-game suspension, their coach called the two men “really good guys who made a bad choice.”

Insurance Admits CAPS Don’t Work