Judge recommends former Moshannon Valley Processing Center detainee’s civil rights lawsuit continue
Former Mo Valley detainee alleges she was sexually assaulted
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A federal civil rights complaint filed last year, in which a former detainee of the Moshannon Valley Processing Center near Philipsburg charged she was sexually assaulted by the facility's chaplain, should be allowed to continue, according to a recommendation by Magistrate Judge Maureen P. Kelly.
Kelly, who presides in Pittsburgh, was assigned to review the complaint filed by an immigrant from the Dominican Republic who was a detainee at MVPC in 2023 and 2024.
The immigrant filed her lawsuit using the pseudonym of "Jane Doe."
Doe was eventually released from Moshannon Valley and returned to her home in New Jersey.
But, in August 2025, supported by the National Immigration Alliance and the American Civil Liberties Union, she filed the complaint with the District Court in Johnstown stating that during her stay at the detention center, she was repeatedly sexually harassed by Chaplain Mark Melhorn.
Moshannon Valley is operated by the GEO Group of Boca Raton as a detention center for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The defendants in the woman's lawsuit include Melhorn, the GEO Group, ICE and Melena Koegler, who is Moshannon Valley's coordinator and investigator for possible violations of the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act.
It was her investigations of the sexual assault allegations against Doe that determined the charges against Melhorn were "unsubstantiated."
U.S. District Judge Stephanie L. Haines referred the lawsuit, and the subsequent motions by the defendants to dismiss the case, to Kelly for review.
Kelly, in an opinion issued on Aug. 24, recommended that the defendants' motions to dismiss Doe's lawsuit be denied.
She gave the defendants two weeks to respond to her recommendations.
On Sept. 4, attorney Peyton E. Myers from West Conshohocken, representing Melhorn and Koegler, asked Haines to reject Kelly's recommendations and return the case to the magistrate judge "to raise and brief the additional grounds for dismissal prior to full litigation."
Meyers went over each of the charges raised on behalf of Doe, and indicated why the Doe complaint should be dismissed.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Heidi M. Grogan on Thursday, in a response on behalf of ICE, asked that Haines reject Kelly's recommendation that the charges brought by Doe be allowed to proceed.
"There was no employer-employee relationship between ICE and Mr. Melhorn or Ms. Koegler, and ICE did not supervise or control either (Melhorn and Koegler) in the performance of their duties," the ICE response argued.
ICE emphasized that Melhorn and Koegler are employees of GEO, not ICE.
"The Magistrate's analysis fails to properly account for the fact that ICE did not employ or directly supervise Mr. Melhorn or Ms. Koegler," the government's response stated.
"This court should conclude that (Doe) failed to allege actual facts to support a reasonable inference that ICE is liable for any alleged negligence or negligence supervision," the government continued in its answer to Kelly's recommendation.
The story told by Doe goes into great detail as to what occurred to her after being placed by ICE in the MVPC in August 2023.
She described herself as a "devoutly Christian woman" who began to attend religious services and who was counseled by Melhorn.
The woman, in her lawsuit, stated Melhorn initially began making "sexualized comments and gestures" toward her.
He would stare at her and finally began to touch her -- instances which she explained in detail.
"Plaintiff suffered nightmares and trouble sleeping due to Melhorn's actions," she reported in her lawsuit.
According to the Kelly opinion, her initial complaints were investigated, but no interpreter was available and, while the state police allegedly were involved, Doe, Kelly pointed out, has no recollection of meeting with an investigator.
"The complaint was deemed unsubstantiated in large part because the evidence was not captured on camera," according to Kelly's opinion.
As the harassment continued, a second investigation occurred.
Kelly described it as being conducted without an interpreter, and that it was "short."
The charges for a second time were declared unsubstantiated due to the lack of evidence.
Doe was released from Moshannon Valley in August 2024.
Kelly in her recommendation pointed out that ICE, which uses the Moshannon Valley facility as a detention center, "is committed to a zero-tolerance standard for sexual abuse in detention centers and to robust oversight of detention centers."
Zero tolerance for sexual harassment and abuse includes: prompt investigations; availability of interpretation services; referral to resources for victims; and immediate action to protect detainees.
Kelly reported the federal Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in 2022 did a "spot check" at MVPC and found multiple violations of the standards applicable to sexual abuse: failure to conduct investigative interviews; failure to educate women about the zero-tolerance policy; many "blind spots" involving the surveillance camera system; and failure to gather evidence.
ICE, Kelly noted, was alerted to these findings.
The alleged victim stated in her lawsuit that ICE never undertook enforcement of the regulations outlined by the zero-tolerance policy.
The government argues that Doe has failed to state claim against it, but Kelly noted in her recommendation that Doe "has sufficiently alleged ICE had a duty to ensure its employees protected her from sexual abuse through compliance with regulatory requirements of the Prison Rape Elimination Act and ICE's Performance-based National Detention Standards and its policies, and that it beached that duty."
The decision whether Doe's case will move forward will be up to Haines.