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Carolynn Hatcher
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July
15, 2008
A 25-year-old married teacher
and group-home housemother had a sexual relationship with a
16-year-old boy there - and became pregnant with the teen's child,
authorities said Monday.
Now Carolynn Hatcher, who
formerly lived with the teen in a group home, has been criminally
charged and is in the midst of divorce proceedings.
Making matters worse: The teen
has run away.
"It's heartbreaking and a
tragedy all the way around," said Mike Fox, executive director of
Butler County Children Services. "I promised to tell the truth, and
this is one of those unbelievable, ugly truths that happen in the
world of child welfare."
The boy's disappearance also
creates an unusual dilemma for officials: They don't think they can
enlist the public's help to find him.
That's because the teen falls
under two classes that rightfully should shield his identity: He's
both a foster child and an alleged sexual-abuse victim.
"Is it really in his interest
to put his picture on the 6 o'clock news and tell people, 'If you see
this kid, call us?' " Fox said. "Right now, the answer to that
question is 'no.' "
Fox's agency, which has had
legal custody of the teen since 2004, placed the boy with Hatcher at
the Mid-Western Children's Home in Pleasant Plain, a Warren County
village southeast of Lebanon.
Fox says his agency and the
group home followed every procedure to try to protect the child,
including background checks on Hatcher, who has no prior criminal
record.
"No matter how hard you try to
predict it and no matter how hard you try to minimize the risk, you
will have people who slip through the net," Fox said.
Hatcher posted $30,000 bond and
was released Monday from the Warren County Jail. Officials say she was
staying with a friend in the Loveland area. She couldn't be located
for comment.
As for the missing teen, police
have been searching for him since he fled Saturday after a
court-appointed special advocate took the teen to get ice cream at the
Bridgewater Falls shopping area in Fairfield Township, Fox said. The
advocate tracked down the boy at a Kroger store and he ran away again,
Fox said. The advocate followed procedure and reported the matter to
police.
The boy is a repeat runaway,
Fox said, yet authorities can do little to stop him.
"It's very, very difficult,
almost impossible, to place a foster child in a locked facility - and
consequently, they pretty much run whenever they want to," Fox said.
Fox's agency also has hired a
private investigator to aid in the search.
"We've had people out looking
for him all day," Fox said Monday evening. "It's heartbreaking to have
a child come into our care and custody, and have him be violated while
he's in our care and custody. ... Did we do everything reasonable in
this case to try to make sure something like this didn't happen? The
answer is yes."
A Warren County indictment
released Monday accuses Hatcher of six counts of sexual battery, a
third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison. The
indictment says the crimes happened during April and May.
The allegations came to light
from another child who lived in the home, said Warren County
Prosecutor Rachel Hutzel.
The private, nonprofit group
home has been a fixture in Warren County for as long as Hutzel can
remember, with a relatively problem-free history.
Midwestern officials responded
properly to the allegations, and took quick steps to protect the
child, Fox said, including alerting police and Children Services.
The boy was not immediately
removed from the home because Hatcher had left the home by the time
the allegations surfaced, officials said.
He was placed in a Fairfield
foster home July 11, Fox said.
Mid-Western fired Hatcher in
June, and Hatcher has told investigators that she was 10 weeks
pregnant - and that the teen is the baby's father, Hutzel said.
"This boy was put into care
because he was in a troubled home," Hutzel said. "This woman was
supposed to be part of the solution. Instead, she became part of the
problem."
Children Services interviewed
all other Butler County children who were placed with Hatcher at
Mid-Western, and found no other serious concerns.
Source:
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080715/NEWS0107/807150320/1055/NEWS
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