2 Boys Caught Having Sex At
Alexander Youth Center
Arkansas
Democrat Gazette,
September 11, 1998
Box 2221, Little Rock, AR 72203
Fax 501-372-3908
Email:
AROnline@ardemgaz.com
By Mary Hargrove Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette
ALEXANDER --
Two boys allegedly were caught having sex at the
Alexander Youth Services Center in the same cottage where an
employee was stabbed by a teen-ager on Aug. 31.
An employee said he saw the
boys, ages 14 and 17, engaged in sex in the laundry room at the
House of Hope cottage about 11 p.m. on Sept. 3.
The unit manager has been
placed on administrative leave with pay while both incidents are
under investigation, said Joe Quinn, spokesman for the state
Department of Human Services.
"There have been two serious
incidents in that facility in a short time," Quinn said. "We are
very much looking at what the staff was doing at the time of the
episode. Were they awake? Were they vigilant?"
The Alexander campus is
operated by the Youth Services Division, a part of Human
Services. It is the state’s only lockup for children declared
delinquent and placed in the custody of the state.
Lights out at the House of Hope
cottage is at 9:30 p.m. and the teen-agers should be locked in
their rooms at that time.
The 14-year-old has been at the
facility since July, committed to state custody by a juvenile
court judge for communicating a false alarm. The 17-year-old has
been at Alexander since February for theft of property.
Quinn said it is not clear if
any charges will be filed in the sex incident.
However, "It does not appear to
be a predatory situation where an older, larger child was
forcing himself on a smaller child," Quinn said.
The incident report was sent to
Youth Services internal affairs investigator Gary Staggs the
next day. Staggs called the Child Abuse Hotline and the offense
will be investigated by state police.
Quinn said a new policy will
soon allow staff at the center to call the hot line directly.
A separate investigation is
continuing in the Aug. 31 stabbing attack by a 15-year-old boy
on Youth Services worker Sherarick Paskell.
...... (excerpted)
http://www.sodomylaws.org/usa/arkansas/arnews26.htm
