A jury was selected Wednesday in the first criminal case in New Hampshire’s Youth Development Center scandal to go to trial.

Victor Malavet, 52, of Gilford, is charged with 12 counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault. Malavet allegedly repeatedly sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl who was held at the Youth Detention Services Unit in Concord in the summer and fall of 2001, according to court records.

Malavet is one of 11 former juvenile jail employees to be criminally charged in connection with decades-long physical and sexual abuse that nearly 1,300 people have alleged occurred in state-run facilities from 1960 to 2021. 

Two of the other employees who were charged have either since died or been found incompetent to stand trial. The rest have trials scheduled to start between this fall and next year.

Malavet was first charged in 2021. The sexual assaults he is accused of perpetrating allegedly occurred at a pre-trial facility in Concord, rather than at the Youth Development Center in Manchester, where much of the abuse allegedly occurred. 

In April, the first of the nearly 1,300 civil lawsuits filed in the center scandal went to trial. A Rockingham County Superior Court jury awarded David Meehan $38 million for abuse he experienced that they found the state was liable for. The amount of the verdict has since been disputed by the state.

Opening arguments in Malavet’s trial are set to begin Monday in Merrimack County Superior Court.

Witness lists filed by attorneys in the case indicate that Malavet’s alleged victim may testify during the trial, which is scheduled to last five days. Several members of the State Police may also testify.

Jeremy Margolis can be reached at jmargolis@cmonitor.com.