'I felt more broken than when I got there,' the patient said in the lawsuit

A residential drug treatment center in Forest Knolls, CA has recently been sued by one of its former patients after she claimed she was sexually harassed and abused by one of its therapists.

Last March, Serenity Knolls treated Victoria Vazquez in her struggle with addiction to heroin and amphetamines. Vazques alleges that James Carter, a registered alcohol and drug technician in the center, repeatedly made inappropriate comments and unwanted physical contact.

In a report published by The Mercury News, Vazquez said that she “was at a crisis point” and “wanted to change it desperately,” so she went to Serenity Knolls “with high expectations.” Her lawsuit said that a few days after arriving at the center, Carter started expressing inappropriate comments, “including telling her she was beautiful and that all the men would make passes at her.”

The lawsuit also alleges that he “repeatedly touched her intimately while whispering into her ear,” and on several occasions, he allegedly told her “he wanted to have sexual intercourse with her and repeatedly asked if she was interested.”

Vazquez further recalled an incident where he allegedly told her that another resident had filed a prior sexual harassment complaint against him, but he successfully avoided a request from his supervisors to sign a document that acknowledged his inappropriate behavior.

When Vazquez decided to leave the program, she informed a...

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