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State Office Questions Jailing Girl: Youth Services Official Says Detainment of Witness, 14, in Summit May Violate Law

Posted on: Thursday, 18 May 2006, 12:04 CDT

By Phil Trexler, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

May 18--A judge may be violating federal law by holding a 14-year-old girl in the Summit County Jail, according to a compliance agency that had a coordinator visit the jail Wednesday.

Federal law prohibits the housing of juveniles in adult jails, but a teenager from Norton who ran away from home to avoid testifying against her alleged molester has been there for eight days now.

The girl was sent there to be held as a material witness by Common Pleas Judge James Murphy on May 10, two days after failing to appear at the trial of an Akron man accused of molesting her.

Initially, Murphy tried to have the girl housed at the county detention center, but Juvenile Court Judge Linda Tucci Teodosio declined, citing the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 2002, which prohibits the jailing of juveniles not accused of a crime.

The same federal law prohibits juveniles from being housed with adult inmates, a provision designed to protect children from psychological abuse, physical assault and isolation.

Andrea Kruse, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Youth Services, said a compliance coordinator with the agency visited the jail Wednesday to observe how the teen is being housed. The coordinator did not speak with the girl.

"If you look at the requirements, they are not in compliance with the federal act," Kruse said. "They appear to be holding a juvenile in an adult facility."

In such cases, Youth Services will ask the jail for a plan to correct the problem. A preliminary report is expected to be available today, Kruse said.

Murphy declined comment when reached at his home Wednesday afternoon.

Chief Prosecutor Mary Ann Kovach said she would have preferred that the girl be housed in juvenile detention. Nonetheless, she said she believes the girl is being lawfully housed.

The girl is isolated from adult inmates, who cannot see or speak to her.

"We researched this and determined that any material witness may be held in jail," she said. "The statute does not indicate that it applies only to adult witnesses."

Eddie Sipplen, an Akron attorney approved Tuesday by Murphy to represent the girl, said he would seek her release through the Ohio 9th District Court of Appeals.

Until Wednesday, the girl could have been released on a $500 bond. But Murphy signed a motion from prosecutors that allows only the girl's mother to sign for her release.

The mother has approved of the jailing, saying confinement keeps her daughter -- whom she calls a chronic runaway -- safe from men and drugs.

Sipplen said the girl is being housed alone in a jail pod with no access to a phone and very little human contact. He said she remains locked in the pod for 23 hours a day, watching TV and reading. She is given one hour a day for recreation, usually playing volleyball with a jail guard.

"She wants out of jail," Sipplen said Wednesday. "She's in isolation 23 hours a day with little human contact."

If released, the girl is not likely to return to her mother's home, Sipplen said.

The girl had access to a phone during her first days in custody, but her mother said Wednesday that the phone has been shut off since at least Monday.

Sipplen said the girl is not a runaway, but was unhappy about her treatment at home.

He said he would try to place her temporarily with a relative.

The girl's mother, 31, questioned Sipplen's efforts. She said she loves her daughter, but is concerned that she will flee wherever she is placed in order to be with men, who have seduced her with drugs and alcohol.

"Is (Sipplen) going to be there to protect her from getting abducted and killed?" she asked.

Unless something changes, Murphy has ordered that the girl remain jailed until May 31, when Galo Sanchez-Pesantes, 20, goes on trial. He is charged with unlawful sexual conduct with a minor for an incident in January involving the girl. The girl has at times admitted and denied that any sexual conduct occurred, attorneys said.

Phil Trexler can be reached at 330-996-3717 or ptrexler@thebeaconjournal.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

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Source: Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio)

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