The family of a non-verbal two-year-old has filed a lawsuit in Santa Clara County Superior Court against the Center for Speech, Language, and Occupational Therapy, Inc., alleging that the Fremont-based center negligently supervised a behavioral technician, leading to the sexual assault of the toddler.

The technician, Benjamine Amlicke, was arrested in February and is facing criminal charges for felony sexual assault.

The lawsuit filed by the law firm of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard says the Fremont center administrators “completely ignored explicit red flags" prior to hiring Amlicke in June 2023.

Amlicke is alleged to have consistently posted inappropriate, sexually explicit content on public social media, including full-body nudes and graphic pornography. After he was hired, he was given unmonitored access to highly vulnerable clients in their private homes, according to the lawsuit.

On Jan. 28, when the child’s mother checked her home surveillance phone app from work. She witnessed Amlicke leading her toddler into a bedroom, locking the door, and sexually assaulting the child, according to the lawsuit complaint.. Subsequent reviews of past footage revealed multiple instances of abuse beginning during Amlicke’s very first session on Jan. 7.

Nonverbal children with developmental disabilities face heightened risks because they cannot report abuse or describe their trauma to parents, the lawyers said.

“Predators deliberately target these individuals, relying on their communication barriers to escape detection and evade criminal consequences,” the family’s lawyer said. ”When victims cannot voice their trauma, they often exhibit severe behavioral changes, as seen when this toddler showed sudden hyper-sexualized behaviors.”

“Care providers must realize that nonverbal children are prime targets for abuse because they cannot voice the trauma inflicted upon them,” said attorney Lauren Cerri.