CONCORD, N.H. — The New Hampshire attorney general’s office has agreed to a $10 million settlement in the case of a man who alleged that he was gang-raped in a stairwell at the state’s youth detention center in the 1990s.

Michael Gilpatrick’s lawsuit against the state would have been the second of more than 1,300 to go to trial, but instead both sides agreed to settle out of court, his lawyers said Saturday.

The payout is four times the maximum amount available to those who submit claims via the state’s settlement fund for abuse victims, though less than half the amount a jury awarded last May in another lawsuit, the first of its kind that went to trial. The $38 million verdict in that case remains in dispute as the state seeks to slash it to $475,000.

Gilpatrick, now 41, was 14 when he was sent to the Youth Development Center for three years in 1997. His lawsuit accused 10 staffers at the Manchester facility of sexual or physical abuse, including repeated rapes and being choked to the point of unconsciousness.

“There was nobody you could go to at YDC to talk to. You were literally stuck in your own thoughts, in your own fear every single day,” he said in a 2021 interview. “That place turned us into what we were. I can’t say what I am now because I’m a better person now. But coming out of that place, I was a monster.”

In one incident, Gilpatrick said, two staffers held him down in a stairwell while another raped him and a fourth man forced him to perform a sex act. Those allegations resulted in criminal charges against four former staffers whom Gilpatrick called a “hit squad;” two of them have faced trial so far.

Brad Asbury, 70, was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison after being convicted in November of being an accomplice to aggravated sexual assault. But jurors deadlocked in January on whether Stephen Murphy was guilty of rape, leading to a mistrial. Murphy, who denied assaulting Gilpatrick, faces three other trials related to other former residents.

“The four of them used to roll together, and they would go to different cottages and beat kids,” Gilpatrick testified at the first civil trial. “They would literally come over and just go door to door and beat every single one of us, down the line.”

The settlement spares Gilpatrick from what likely would have been another emotionally difficult court proceeding. He also testified at the two criminal trials, at times lashing out angrily at defense lawyers.

He said he did not tell anyone what happened to him at the time because dorm leaders were involved in the assault, and he then spent decades trying to bury his memories.

“Once I was about to accept the fact that it wasn’t my fault and I was able to stop blaming myself, I knew I had to say something,” he testified on Jan. 16.

Eleven former youth counselors have been arrested since the attorney general’s office began investigating the facility in 2019, though charges against one were dropped, another was found incompetent to stand trial and a third died awaiting trial. Two men have been convicted, and another case that ended in a hung jury is expected to be retried later this year.

The Associated Press generally does not identify those who say they were victims of sexual assault unless they have come forward publicly, as Gilpatrick and others have done.

The youth center, which once housed upward of 100 children but now typically serves fewer than a dozen, is named for former Gov. John H. Sununu. Lawmakers have approved closing the facility, which now only houses those accused or convicted of the most serious violent crimes, and replacing it with a much smaller one in a new location.

• On Thursday, the NH House voted to table a bill that would eventually raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2028.
• Democratic lawmakers in New Hampshire have tried to raise the minimum wage for the past 12 years, but they’ve continued to face steep opposition from Republicans.
• New Hampshire’s current minimum wage is $7.25, which is the federal minimum, and is the lowest of all New England states.

New Hampshire’s minimum wage is about half the amount workers are paid in all other New England states, and that seems unlikely to change this year.

On Thursday, the New Hampshire House set aside the issue for now by voting to table a bill that would eventually raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2028. It was a largely party line vote of 197 to 159, with all Democrats and two Republicans in opposition to tabling the bill.

New Hampshire’s current minimum wage is $7.25, which is the federal minimum. It has not increased since 2009. 

Lawmakers can vote later to take the bill off the table and decide whether to pass it. But if the bill is not taken off the table by the end of this year’s session, it will die. The bill had come to the floor with a report of inexpedient to legislate, meaning it was unlikely to pass before the tabling motion was made.

Why doesn’t NH increase the minimum wage?

Rep. Kathy Staub, D-Manchester, who sponsored the bill, said that the low minimum wage is “out of step” with surrounding states. All other states in New England have raised their minimum wage to at least $14 as of 2025.

“The 61,000 workers who make less than $15 an hour in the state do important work and deserve fair compensation,” she said. 

However, Rep. James Creighton, R-Antrim, who asked to table the bill, said that the bill will “harm New Hampshire businesses” and that “the market should drive wages.”

Another bill to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026 was already killed by the Senate in early March.

Democratic lawmakers in New Hampshire have tried to raise the minimum wage for the past 12 years, but they’ve continued to face steep opposition from Republicans.

These bills also face an uphill battle with new Gov. Kelly Ayotte, who opposed raising the federal minimum wage as a U.S. Senator and has stuck to that position, saying during her campaign for governor that the minimum wage should be up to the market and private businesses.

What’s the minimum wage in other New England states?

Rhode Island, Vermont, Connecticut and Maine increased their minimum wage in 2025, largely due to cost-of-living increases.

Here is the minimum wage in each New England state, from lowest to highest:

• New Hampshire: $7.25
• Vermont: $14.01
• Maine: $14.65
• Massachusetts: $15
• Rhode Island: $15
• Connecticut: $16.35

What state has the highest minimum wage?

While technically not a state, Washington D.C. has the highest minimum wage in the country at $17.50.

Washington state has the next highest at $16.28, and it increased in 2025 to $16.66 per hour.

The third highest is California, which increased its minimum wage to $16.50 in 2025. Fast food restaurant employers and healthcare facility employers have a higher minimum wage. The minimum wage for fast food workers starts at $20 and for healthcare workers it’s a scale that starts at $18 depending on the type of work.

New York and then Connecticut are the next two highest.

Contributing: Katie Landeck