A woman who says she was raped as a teenager at a Mexican orphanage run by a Union, Missouri-based charity has sued the organization's former leadership, accusing them of ignoring reports of sexual abuse for years. The lawsuit, filed September 9 in Franklin County Circuit Court, names six individuals who once held leadership positions at Niños de México, Inc., a now-defunct charity that operated children's homes across Mexico.
The suit was filed on behalf of a confidential plaintiff, a woman born in 2003 in Mexico, according to the Missourian. Among the defendants is Robert Wideman of Union. The plaintiff alleges she was abused from age 14 to 17 by Javier Colosia Lopez, a former Niños de México employee who was later arrested, convicted of aggravated rape, and sentenced to 11 years in prison, per the same report.
Allegations of Torturous Discipline
Beyond the sexual abuse claims, the lawsuit alleges that Niños de México leadership subjected children in its care to what it calls torturous discipline, including forcing residents to hold heavy rocks over their heads and locking them in dark rooms for solitary confinement. The complaint also claims leadership engaged in active cover-up efforts and intimidated victims, the article notes.
The case is possible under Missouri Revised Statutes § 537.046, which allows civil suits for childhood sexual abuse to be filed within 10 years of a survivor turning 21, or within three years of discovering that an injury was caused by the abuse, according to the Missouri General Assembly. That extended window is what allows a survivor born in 2003 to bring a claim in 2026.
A Charity Founded in Franklin County, Now Permanently Closed
Niños de México was founded in 1967 by Franklin County residents Merlyn and Wanda Beeman, who established the charity's administrative office in Union in 1978, according to KSDK. The Christian organization grew to operate up to nine children's homes in Mexico, along with mobile medical units and church planting programs, relying heavily on U.S. church donations and mission trips.
Allegations of abuse extend back to the charity's founding era. Former staff members reported claims that Merlyn and Wanda Beeman themselves molested Mexican children placed in their care, according to the Missourian, which reported that long-standing concerns about the founders went unaddressed for years.
Independent Report Triggered the Charity's Collapse
The charity's permanent closure after 58 years followed the release of a 256-page independent investigation by Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment, known as GRACE, on November 12, 2025. As reported by El País, the report documented accounts from more than 80 child sexual abuse victims and allegations against at least 20 former employees, exposing decades of physical and sexual abuse across multiple children's homes.
The GRACE investigation found a catastrophic failure of oversight by the charity's U.S. Board of Directors and recommended the permanent removal of longtime Executive Director Steve Ross, concluding that leadership repeatedly failed to report abuse allegations to law enforcement or child welfare authorities, per El País. The report also detailed the 1998 death of 12-year-old resident José Luis Cañizales Jiménez, who died after being found at the bottom of a ravine during a mountain outing led by Ross, then a houseparent, who delayed seeking medical help for 30 minutes, according to MinistryWatch. Ross went on to serve as executive director for years despite the incident, the outlet reported.
Mexican Authorities Raided Facilities Before the Shutdown
In July 2025, Mexican government authorities raided Niños de México facilities, seizing official documents, shuttering care homes, and removing children from the organization's custody, MinistryWatch reported. Mexican state agencies stepped in directly to clear children from the shelters months before the charity's board voted to dissolve the corporation entirely.
Financial records show the charity held roughly $1.4 million in net assets shortly before that dissolution vote, according to an IRS Form 990 filed in November 2024 and cited by MinistryWatch. Dissolved nonprofits must follow statutory rules governing how remaining assets are distributed, a factor likely to loom over any eventual civil recovery efforts tied to the Franklin County lawsuit.
