It took Mary Soto, 31, more than 15 years to find the courage to come forward with claims that she was repeatedly sexually abused by a City employee at a Bronx juvenile detention center where she was detained. She was about 14 when she says the City employee, who was in his 40s, would come into her room at night to deliver candy, and then assault her in her bed.
But in April 2024, Soto finally broke her silence, filing a lawsuit under an amendment to New York City's Gender Motivated Violence Act that gave victims of gender-based violence—mostly sexual abuse—a two-year window to file lawsuits outside of the statute of limitations.
It was an exhale on a chapter of her life that felt unresolved, and on alleged abuse that Soto never thought would be believed.
"I didn't wanna do something bad to him," said Soto, a mom of two who is now working toward her law degree. "It wasn't until I went to college to study sociology that I started getting terminology for what was going on—grooming—and to realize that that person is not a nice man. He's a monster."
She added: "I just wanted the City to say, 'Hey, this happened to you guys. We apologize.'"
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