A man charged with sexually assaulting a teenage boy

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A man charged with sexually assaulting a teenage boy at New Hampshire’s youth detention center decades ago has died while awaiting trial, his lawyer said Wednesday. Gordon Thomas Searles, 68, died Sunday, said attorney Joseph Fricano. He said he did not know the cause of death and that his client had been looking forward to his day in court. Searles was one of 11 former state workers arrested after the state launched an unprecedented criminal investigation into the Sununu Youth Services Center. Searles, who faced three charges of aggravated felonious sexual assault involving a teenage boy between October 1995 and July 1998, also was accused in dozens of lawsuits, most of which alleged physical assault. One lawsuit accused him of sitting on a teen’s back while another staffer raped him, beating the boy multiple times per week and frequently choking him unconscious.