A former mental health counselor at a Chicago behavioral health hospital has been charged with sexually assaulting five boys during his time there, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.

Edmund Rivers, 68, is accused of sexually assaulting the boys, between the ages of 7 and 14, while he worked at Hartgrove Behavioral Health Hospital between 1996 and 2004. Hartgrove is now called Hartgrove Behavioral Health System and is located in the city’s Austin neighborhood.

“This alleged abuse is horrific, and the survivors have shown tremendous courage coming forward to report these allegations after so many years,” Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke said in a news release. “Instead of receiving support during a vulnerable time in their youth, these victims were allegedly violated by someone in a position of trust and authority.”

Attempts to reach Rivers’ attorney were not immediately successful Monday evening. A judge ordered Rivers to remain detained at a hearing Monday.

Rivers was charged with three counts of criminal sexual assault and two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault.

Prosecutors allege that Rivers assaulted the boys in patient rooms, a seclusion room, a cafeteria bathroom and a gym equipment room. The victims contend that Rivers would threaten to sedate them with a hypodermic needle syringe for not going along with his advances, according to the state’s attorney’s office.

Several of the victims came forward and contacted police after hearing about a civil lawsuit filed last year against Hartgrove and its parent company, Universal Health Services. That lawsuit was filed by an Illinois man, named anonymously as John Doe 1 in the lawsuit, who alleged that multiple staff members sexually abused him as a child.

That lawsuit alleged that Hartgrove and Universal Health Services were negligent, among other allegations.

The case has since been consolidated with a number of other civil lawsuits against the hospital and Universal Health Services, also alleging sexual abuse of patients at the facility. In a court document filed earlier this year, the plaintiff’s attorneys said they represented more than 150 people alleging abuse at the Chicago Hartgrove facility.

Hartgrove and Universal Health Services did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday evening.

Last year, a U.S. Senate committee published a report titled “Warehouses of Neglect” following an investigation of allegations of abuse and neglect at residential treatment facilities operated by companies including Universal Health Services.

According to that report, the companies aim to maximize profit by filling their facilities while reducing the number and quality of employees. Children at the facilities suffer harms including sexual, physical and emotional abuse, unsafe and unsanitary conditions, and inadequate provision of behavioral health treatment, according to the report.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/01/hartgrove-behavioral-hospital-sexual-assault/