Former worker at Chicago center for foster kids found guilty of sexual assault

A former stand-out college football star with a criminal history has been convicted of sexually abusing foster children who were in the care of a Chicago facility at the center of a massive investigation.

For years, the CBS News Investigators have been digging into allegations made against employees at Aunt Martha's Integrated Care Center, a facility that provided emergency placements for kids under the care of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

The abuse accusations are no longer just allegations, after a jury convicted former Aunt Martha's youth center manager Trulon Henry of multiple sexual assault charges last week.

Court records show Henry worked for Aunt Martha's youth center as a manager from January 2023 to April 2024, during which time five kids between the ages of 12 and 17 disclosed "grooming and sexual abuse."

More than a year and a half after he was arrested and charged, last week, a Cook County jury found him guilty of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child.

It's still a mystery how Henry was hired in the first place, because the former University of Illinois linebacker already was a convicted felon when he was hired.

He was convicted of armed robbery when he was 19, and sentenced to five years in prison, a fact highlighted in several news reports and in a Big Ten Network feature story in 2010.

He was the second Aunt Martha's employee arrested and charged with abuse of a child.

First came Antonio Hopkins, who worked at Aunt Martha's through a third-party security firm, A-Alert, which was the subject of a letter obtained by the CBS News Chicago Investigators. The letter to the Inspector General of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services from the Cook County Public Guardian showed that Aunt Martha's started raising concerns with A-Alert employees as early as 2022.

After DCFS was made aware of a July 2023 incident report involving Hopkins and a child, DCFS Deputy Director of Child Services wrote in an email, "let's all review the allegations outlined in this document and be prepared to provide evidence to dispute it. I am certain most of this is a stretch based on one occurrence, anecdote, and general misrepresentation."

A DCFS spokesperson said that email "was completely unrelated to the incident involving Hopkins and a child. The email was involving another matter entirely. Any allegations of sexual abuse are investigated immediately."

But incidents continued, and a January 2024 email shows that additional staff was brought in to specifically oversee A-Alert staff; so, guards to guard the guards.

Emails show Aunt Martha's repeatedly asked DCFS to move away from using A-Alert.

"In fact, Aunt Martha's has communicated our concerns regarding A-Alert to DCFS no fewer than 20 times," the CEO wrote in March 2024.

But it wasn't until May 2024 that DCFS stopped sending youth to Aunt Martha's ICC.

In a statement, a DCFS spokesperson said the agency ended its contract with Aunt Martha's ICC. DCFS is also phasing out its contracts with A-Alert.

DCFS also said A-Alert was a subcontractor of Aunt Martha's, and Aunt Martha's had the unilateral ability to remove them at any time.  

"As the contract clearly stated, if, at any point, Aunt Martha's did not believe A-Alert was complying with the contract or not performing as required, Aunt Martha's could have terminated A-Alert," a DCFS spokesperson wrote.    

As for the guards hired to watch over the guards, DCFS said it cannot speak to Aunt Martha's decision to hire a second company rather than discontinuing the A-Alert contract.

Aunt Martha's and A-Alert did not respond to requests for comment about the allegations made in that letter to the OIG.