Reynolds says she cannot comment on Glenwood lawsuit

DES MOINES — Governor Kim Reynolds says she cannot comment on allegations in a lawsuit filed by six former employees at the state-run Glenwood Resource Center.

“At this point I’m going to be very careful in what I say,” Reynolds told reporters late this morning.

According to a Des Moines Register report, the lawsuit accuses the center’s superintendent of using tax dollars to buy pornography and other items for a sex study. The former employees say the intellectually disabled residents at the facility were treated like “guinea pigs” in the experiments.

Reynolds told reporters she is consulting with the state’s attorney general on the case.  “My priority is to make sure that I’m protecting the state’s interests as well as the residents in Glenwood,” Reynolds says.

Reynolds fired Glenwood’s superintendent in late December. Last June, she fired the head of the Department of Human Services director who had hired Glenwood’s superintendent, but Reynolds has said “many factors” were involved in that decision and the details behind Foxhoven’s dismissal will come out eventually. Foxhoven has sued the state over HIS firing.

In November, the U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation of allegations of patient abuse at the facility.