June 21 – An internship program that places Butler Tech students in the Butler County Jail for job training was halted in March after it was discovered that a 17-year-old female intern had had contact with two inmates, allegedly involving trafficking and sex.
Officials said the program could resume in the fall.
The March 1 incidents resulted in the female Butler Tech student in the criminal justice program being charged in juvenile court with two felony counts of illegal transfer to a detention center, a misdemeanor count of the same offense and a misdemeanor count of obstructing official business, the court said. documents.
The intern, who turned 18 this month, is accused of bringing marijuana, ecstasy and cellphones into the facility twice, according to documents. She is also accused of not being honest with investigators during the investigation that led to the closure of the prisoner’s pod.
Chief Deputy Anthony Dwyer of the Butler County Sheriff’s Office said the intern admitted to having consensual sex with an inmate. No one has been charged with any sexual offense in this case.
“If she was three months older and we hired her as an 18-year-old, she would have been criminally charged with sexual assault because you’re in control,” Dwyer said, explaining that she wasn’t charged because she wasn’t. a sheriff’s office employee.
“She was just under 18 years old, she said it was consensual. He denied it in its entirety, so based on the total we decided not to press charges against him.”
Dwyer said the inmates were not charged with violating jail rules or crimes for the contraband they allegedly brought in because a search of the cell and pod turned up nothing the day the investigation began.
Attorney Joe Auciello, who represents the accused teen, said, “I was just surprised that the internship program was with youth in prison.”
The podcast and website Louder with Crowder first reported the incidents on Wednesday, saying inmates forced the intern to smuggle items into the prison and groomed her for sex. The report was also critical of the sheriff’s office and school for accountability for the program.
Dwyer said the intern was one of about six people from Butler Tech who went through the program as an unpaid intern. Dwyer noted that they recently hired an 18-year-old college graduate as a corrections officer.
Dwyer said the intern was never alone in the prison, which is smaller than a basketball court.
“There was a commander with her,” Dwyer said. “She was in a pod where an officer was sitting, and as the officer made rounds, she ducked into a cell. She did her best to participate.”
Dwyer said the internship program was suspended in March pending the investigation, but could restart when school starts again. That decision has not yet been made.
Butler Tech responds
AJ Huff, spokeswoman for Butler Tech, said the program has been suspended and will be reevaluated.
“We suspended the program at that time because she clearly wasn’t going to go through with that,” Huff said. “Every fall there is a discussion about who we work with and which companies across all the programs, and what is the right fit for the student that we have each year. So that will have to be a conversation that we will have when we get back to the be a blow.”
She said that before students enter an internship program, whether it be with the sheriff’s office, a welding company or a fire department, “because we have business associates who could be potentially dangerous,” students must pass all necessary assessments, plus a grade point average and attendance requirements . Students and parents or guardians have responsibilities outlined in a signed agreement, Huff said.
In March, the sheriff’s office received information from someone at the facility that a corrections officer was bringing in contraband and having sex with an inmate, Dwyer said. The investigation pointed to the intern, who he said inmates did not know was not a staff corrections officer.
Through an investigation, including reviews of phone calls and cellphone records, detectives interviewed her and filed charges. Dwyer said she “admits to introducing contraband and admits to consensual sexual activity with one of the inmates.”
‘She was warned about it’
The two inmates involved are federal prisoners, one of whom was convicted of murder.
Dwyer said, “They’re bad guys. They are bad, rough prisoners.”
When he was interviewed, the inmates denied any sexual activity, he said.
Detectives later became aware of sexually explicit letters written by the inmates to the intern regarding sexual activity.
“She knew this type of manipulation could happen, especially when it involved contraband, and she was warned about it,” Dwyer said. “We’ve sent adult police officers to jail for things like this.”
Dwyer said appropriate authorities were notified of the incidents in March, including the U.S. arranging prison contracts to house federal prisoners.
Auciello said his client is not accused of any wrongdoing related to alleged sexual activity with an inmate.
Auciello filed a motion to suppress the teen’s statements to detectives.
Dwyer said it appears the intern was a victim of manipulation.
“I feel very sorry for a bad situation, but I also think we are not talking about someone who is thirteen years old, who comes from a criminal justice program. In this kind of environment, if you are determined to do something, it is almost impossible to stop. You can’t watch everyone 100 percent every second,” he said.
