Best Buy's practice of sending teenage employees to out-of-state training programs is coming under fire.
A 16-year-old Phoenix girl said she was raped by a fellow Best Buy employee, while attending one of those training programs in August.
"I just had a really bad feeling. I had a bad feeling. I knew she shouldn't go. I just knew it," said the victim's mother, whose identity CBS 5 Investigates agreed to conceal because of the nature of the crime against her daughter.
"They said that everyone goes. I even went in and talked to the assistant store manager and he goes, ‘I went when I was 16 and it was fine. We all have to do it,'" said the mother.
But during the second night of the trip, the daughter said a 28-year-old man, who was also a Best Buy employee, pulled her into his hotel room and sexually assaulted her.
"I was like a deer in headlights, even as it was happening," said the teenager.
What happened after the alleged attack is what made the family even angrier. Word of the assault reached Best Buy supervisors the following day, but instead of calling police or taking the victim to the hospital for medical treatment, the company representatives dropped her off at the airport with a plane ticket back to Phoenix.
"She's a minor. She should have been taken to the hospital. She should have been taken to the police department. I should have gotten a call as soon as anybody knew," said the victim's mother.
When the Ventura County Sheriff's Office was finally notified and responded to the scene, the victim was already on her way back to Phoenix.
The family's attorney said the delay in medical care and investigation means it's going to be even more difficult to prosecute the suspect.
"They didn't get her medical help. They let the evidence spoil. It disappeared. The police were not called," said Joe Watkins, who represents the family.
Watkins contends that Best Buy had a responsibility to supervise its young employees and to protect them from harm.
"They had a duty to make sure that she was supervised and not exposed to the situations that happened in California. And they had an absolute duty to their employees regardless of their age to get her into emergency medical help and to report this to authorities after it happened," said Watkins.
Meantime, CBS 5 Investigates has learned the suspect is under investigation, but has not been arrested. He is a teacher in the San Diego area.
Best Buy sent CBS 5 News the following statement:
"The Ventura County Sherriff's office has been explicit in asking us not to proceed with our internal investigation as it could have an adverse impact on the Sheriff's office criminal investigation. We also understand from the Ventura County Sheriff's office that the Detective in charge of this investigation made similar requests of the family and the media. We have agreed to honor the Sheriff's office request and would hope, not just for the integrity of the criminal investigation but primarily for the sake of the family, that the media would also comply.
Aside from the request by the Ventura County Sheriff's Office, please understand that there are laws that dictate that the protection and security of alleged victims are paramount in such situations. With this in mind we will not be commenting on these allegations except to state emphatically that Best Buy does not and will not tolerate any behavior that is inappropriate, illegal or criminal."
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