Jury deliberates in first criminal trial linked to New Hampshire youth center abuse

Jurors in the first criminal trial linked to New Hampshire’s sprawling child abuse scandal have begun deliberations in the case of a former youth detention center worker charged with repeatedly raping a teenage girl two decades ago. Sixty-two-year-old Victor Malavet is one of nine men charged in connection with the investigation into abuse allegations at the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester. Unlike the others, he worked at a separate state-run facility in Concord. Malavet did not testify and his attorneys called no witnesses. But jurors heard him deny the allegations Thursday when prosecutors played an audio recording of his interview with police in 2021.