The U.S. government has reached a deal with Native American victims who were sexually abused as boys by pedophile doctor Stanley Patrick Weber. The boys were abused at the hands of Weber in federal hospitals in Montana and South Dakota during the mid-1990s.
Reports detail that eight victims would receive anywhere between $1.5 million and $2 million to settle their allegations against federal officials. The details of the settlement are not yet finalized. Because of the amount of the settlement, there will need to be final approval by a senior DOJ official.
Following news of the settlement, Roselyn Tso, who was recently confirmed as director of the HIS, shared, “We deeply regret the trauma suffered by the patients under the care of Stanley Patrick Weber,” adding, “We know the trust in our agency has been damaged, and we are doing all we can to rebuild that trust.”
The abuse was suspected to have occurred shortly after 1989 when Weber began his position at the federal agency, the U.S. Indian Health Service. The IHS is an agency established to help Native Americans receive various health services. Today, there are 10 youth regional center facilities in total, some of which are operated by the IHS and others which are tribally managed.
According to reports, supervising staff in the agency’s Browning, Montana, facility began to suspect Weber of misconduct in the late 1990s. After the facility’s clinical director at the time, Randy Rottenbiller, found out that Weber had a child patient staying the night at his home, Weber was transferred to another IHS hospital in Pine Ridge South Dakota.
Weber had spent three years at the Montana facility before he was transported to Pine Ridge. Weber would eventually spend another 21 years working with Native American children at Pine Ridge.
It wouldn’t be until over two decades that Weber began working with IHS that his crimes would be brought to light. An investigation done by The Wall Street Journal and Frontline unveiled that Weber’s suspicious behavior had been repeatedly missed and deliberately ignored, largely because IHS’s facilities were in desperate need of medical staffing. When Weber’s misconduct was revealed at the Browning, Montana facility, instead of being terminated, IHS officials transferred him to another facility.
It wasn’t until 2017 and 2018 that Weber would finally be indicted for his crimes by a tribal prosecutor outside of the IHS agency. The investigation revealed that at least six boys were sexually abused while at the Montana and South Dakota facilities. The investigation also exposed that Weber supplied minor patients with alcohol, money, and even opioids as a way to coerce the boys to perform sexual acts with him. This coercion took place both in the hospital facilities and at his own private residence.
In early February 2020, Weber, who was 71 at the time, was sentenced to five life prison terms in connection to his crimes. Court documents detailed that the abuse went on between 1995 and 2011 and that IHS officials failed to stop the abuse even when they suspected it. At trial, it was also revealed that federal officials at IHS went as far as attempting to silence individuals who raised concerns over the abuse.
The in-depth reporting also revealed that because of the IHS’s poor handling of the allegations against Weber during the years he was in practice, dozens of other doctors and medical staff were hired who had poor professional records, including records of medical malpractice and criminal convictions. These individuals would also later go on to abuse patients at IHS facilities.
The settlement comes after a federal judge ruled that the sexual abuse was outside the statute of limitations for South Dakota victims. In those cases, the victims’ lawyers revised their argument and went after the IHS’s inaction to intervene instead.
