Update on Columbus, OH student assault case

[Miss Mary]

Remember that awful, horrific story of the young special needs student being assaulted in Columbus, Ohio? Well, this follow up story appeared in my local paper today. Thought I'd update all of you, since we were horrified this went on during a school day. Justice seems to have been served in this case. Wait until you read the Principal''s comments. I just kept asking myself as I read her comments - what about the poor girl, what she endurred? It all just comes back to the victim for me. The father did the right thing in calling 911.

Couldn't find the topic we had started for this story.

Mary

__________________



http://www.dispatch.com/topstory.php?st ... A1-00.html

Mifflin teens charged with rape
2 boys accused of assaulting girl; ex-principal charged with inaction
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Bill Bush , Kevin Mayhood and Alayna DeMartini
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Ending a 12-week investigation into a girl’s report that she was sexually assaulted at Mifflin High School, prosecutors yesterday charged two students with rape and the school’s former principal with failing to report suspected child abuse.

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien charged Timothy Armistead, 16, and Brandyn Hobbs, 15, each with two delinquency counts of rape, one count of sexual battery and one count of kidnapping. If convicted, they face penalties ranging from probation to incarceration in a state Department of Youth Services facility until age 21.

Columbus City Prosecutor Richard C. Pfeiffer charged Regina Crenshaw, the former principal, with one count of failing to notify police or Franklin County Children Services of the suspected sexual assault. The charge is a fourth-degree misdemeanor that has a maximum penalty of 30 days in jail and a $250 fine.

Crenshaw said the charge against her is political and that the timing — a day before she was to begin an administrative hearing in an attempt to regain her position — was "ironic."

"My bottom line is the love of kids," said Crenshaw, 46. "That’s what is most important. I’m in my depressed state right now, especially with the criminal charges."

Hobbs and Armistead were in the county Juvenile Detention Center yesterday. Their families could not be reached for comment.

The two teens turned themselves in to police yesterday. They are accused of forcing a 16-year-old developmentally disabled girl to perform oral sex on them March 9 in Mifflin’s auditorium as others watched. One student reportedly videotaped it.

Family members accompanied Hobbs when he turned himself in. Armistead was accompanied by his attorney, Gerald T. Sunbury.

Both were expected to appear this morning in Franklin County Juvenile Court to formally hear the charges against them. A magistrate will decide whether they will be held in the detention center pending trial or be released.

As for the failure-to-report charge against Crenshaw, Pfieffer said that regardless of whether the girl was forced to engage in sex or was a willing participant, if she has a developmental disability, the school has "a duty to protect that person."

Pfeiffer is charging only Crenshaw, although other school officials also knew of the girl’s allegation and did not report it.

"If five people are aware in one building, do all five have to each make a call, or should there be five calls?" Pfieffer asked. "No. You say to the person in charge, ‘It’s your responsibility. Here is what your folks are saying; you’ve got to make the call.’

"This was a busy school day, and there is a division of labor."

But Crenshaw’s attorney, Toki Clark, said the mandatory reporting statute applies to any school employee and that Crenshaw was the eighth school employee to become aware of an allegation.

The law "does not say that the most senior school employee handling an abuse situation is the only one that has the obligation to report," Clark said.

The timing of the charge puts Crenshaw’s administrative hearing in jeopardy, Clark said. The attorney said she needs to explore what protections she has against self-incrimination in the criminal case if she is called to testify at the administrative hearing.

O’Brien said he is trying to persuade the student accused of videotaping the Mifflin incident, 18-year-old Kevin Bolling, to testify for prosecutors. He would not comment on whether Bolling would be charged.

Attorney Thomas D. Beal was appointed to represent Bolling in negotiations with O’Brien’s office.

The case stems from the girl’s accusations that she was led into the Mifflin auditorium, struck in the head and forced to perform oral sex behind curtains on the stage of the school’s auditorium.

The girl’s father dialed 911 on his cell phone, despite school officials’ discouraging him from reporting it. An assistant principal told him not to call 911 because reporters might hear over police scanners the order to send a cruiser.

bbush@dispatch.com

kmayhood@dispatch.com

ademartini@dispatch.com

[sunny]

Mary-

I do remember us discussing this case - and how horrified we all were, and probably still are. The father did do the right thing - now let us hope the courts do as well.

[GalvestonDuck]

Just for Mary -- Here's the original thread:

http://www.storm2k.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=60698

[Miss Mary]

Thanks Shawn! I knew you'd find it.

Mary