The Baltimore County Board of Education is suing a Baltimore employment agency for allegedly hiring a felon to assist a special needs student at Catonsville High School last year.

In a claim filed the week of Oct. 11, the board alleges that Essential Care Inc. provided the assistant and was responsible for checking his background, board attorney Leslie Stellman said last week.

The board's action was prompted by a $1 million lawsuit filed by the student involved, Steven Cearfoss, and his parents, Robert Todd Cearfoss and Lori Dew of Catonsville, in September against the board and Essential Care.

That suit alleges that the assistant, Anthony Creek, encouraged the younger Cearfoss in illegal activities that led to the teenager's arrest last year.

The board's lawsuit, also known an a cross claim, alleges that Essential Care should pay the board's court costs, attorney fees and any damages resulting from the Cearfoss case.

"The whole point is the taxpayers should not be responsible when the school system is not at fault," Stellman said.

Attorney Seymour Sureff, who has been representing Essential Care, was unavailable for comment last week.

Attorney Gregory Lockwood, who represents the Cearfoss family, did not return calls.

Both lawsuits stem from a Baltimore County police investigation into the theft of a .25-caliber automatic pistol in November 2005.

On Dec. 1, police arrested Steven Cearfoss, who was 17 at the time, and charged him as an adult with theft, burglary and illegal gun possession.

He had stolen the gun from his grandfather and given it to Creek at school, police reported.

His case was transferred in July to juvenile court, where records are confidential.

Police arrested Creek, 25 at the time and an Irvington resident, charging him with several gun-related offenses, including possession of a stolen gun and possession of a deadly weapon on school property.

Creek later pleaded guilty to illegal gun possession and was sentenced Oct. 19 to five years in prison.

Police who arrested him found that he had been convicted of armed robbery with a handgun in Baltimore in 1999.

That felony conviction prohibited him from legally possessing the automatic pistol or working with students in county public schools.

Nevertheless, for several months of 2005 Creek worked as a personal assistant assigned to monitor Cearfoss at Catonsville High, making sure the student got his work done and stayed out of trouble at school, according to police.

A family member said the teenager had severe emotional and psychological problems, police reported.

Lockwood has said that he does not know yet if school or employment agency officials were aware of Creek's criminal history before Dec. 1 last year.

Officials knew or should have known, he said, because Board of Education policy and Essential Care's contract with the system required criminal background checks of all employees.

Stellman said no court date had been scheduled in the Cearfoss lawsuit.

Charles Herndon, spokesman for Baltimore County Public Schools, said he could not comment on a pending lawsuit.

E-mail Marcia Ames at Marcia Ames@patuxent.com