How Could You? Hall of Shame-Sean Justice UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Elyria, Ohio,”a former child care worker at the Lorain County Juvenile Court’s Stepping Stone residential center has been indicted on charges he was involved in drug activity with residents at the group home for boys.

Sean Justice, who now works for the U.S. Postal Service, was booked into the Lorain County Jail on Monday on two counts of conspiracy and a single charge of corrupting another with drugs. The 29-year-old was released Tuesday on bond.

The charges come nearly two years after Justice resigned from his county job after being confronted by a court official about allegations he had been trading drugs with juveniles he was assigned to guard.

Justice’s lawyer, Paul St. Marie, said his client plans to fight the charges.

“He may have used poor judgment on occasion, but nothing that rises to a criminal offense,” St. Marie said. “He fully expects the judicial process will demonstrate the state’s charges have no merit.”

The allegations against Justice that led to his resignation in January 2014 weren’t the first time that he had been under scrutiny for allegedly engaging in drug activity at Stepping Stone, where he was hired as a relief worker in September 2012 and became a full-time employee in January 2013.

In March 2013, a juvenile probation officer reported that a Stepping Stone resident had told his counselor that Justice asked him if he knew anyone willing to buy the painkiller Lortab, a Lorain County Drug Task Force report detailing the long-running investigation into Justice said.

Investigators talked to the juvenile and took a photo of a text message from Justice’s phone that asked, “Say I come into possession of 50 7.5 mg Vic’s the pink ones I think they are technically called loratabs would u know anyone willing to buy all of them for 5 a pill or if not all and they wanna buy them like in 5s or 10s for 6 a pill?”

Justice was placed on leave on March 5, 2013, but he was reinstated nine days later after providing a written statement in which he wrote that he had likely left his phone outside his office and that someone had “swiped it for a couple minutes or passed it to someone who sent the text.”

Administrative services coordinator Keith Andorka gave Justice a letter of reprimand and ordered him to review the facility’s cell phone policy, according to Juvenile Court records.

The report said that the internal probe interfered with a criminal investigation, and no charges were filed in the 2013 incident.

Juvenile court administrator Jody Barilla defended the decision to confront Justice both in 2013 and again in 2014, something that the Lorain County Drug Task Force report indicated investigators wanted court officials to hold off on. She said the court had an obligation to protect the juveniles being held at Stepping Stone.

“As soon as there was confirmation, there was cause for concern, we had to act immediately, and we did,” she said. “We made every effort to have as little impact on law enforcement as we could.”

New allegations against Justice surfaced in October 2013 when the Drug Task Force was contacted by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation about an anonymous complaint that he was trading drugs with Stepping Stone residents and “preying on kids in the facility.”

The next significant investigative action in the case didn’t take place until Jan. 27, 2014, when Barilla contacted the Task Force about complaints that Justice was allowing pills and marijuana to be sold at the facility.

Investigators interviewed several residents, including one who identified himself as part of the “Justice Four,” who he said “received preferential treatment” from Justice “because they were cool and Sean was cool,” the report said.

That boy also told detectives that when he first arrived at the facility, Justice asked him if he had heard about him, and they then began to discuss their respective drug histories, according to the report. The juvenile also claimed that he had received synthetic marijuana and the anti-anxiety drug Xanax from
Justice in exchange for good behavior.

Another boy told investigators that he would trade his attention deficit disorder medication to Justice for Xanax pills, the report said. The same boy said that he and Justice would exchange messages while he was home asking him to get him drugs including the painkiller Percocet.

The boy reported that he obtained two Percocet pills as well as two “hits” of hallucinogenic acid for Justice.

Detectives also found several text exchanges between Justice and the boy in which Justice urged him to get him drugs and bring them to Stepping Stone, according to photos of the messages included in the report.

In one message, Justice reminds the boy to take precautions, writing, “Make sure u always(s) delete our text convos.”

“I do man,” the teen replied.

In another string of messages, Justice barters with the teen about what kind of drugs he’s looking for and rejects muscle relaxers because they put him to sleep “and don’t really get me high.”

Later Justice was empathic about what he wanted, “Basically if he can get some vicodins percs or zannys or acid is all I want.”

“Okay I got you,” the boy sent back.

“Or adderals or vyavanse,” Justice added, a reference to ADHD medication.

Justice also complained to the teen about how long it was taking to procure drugs, according to one text exchange, which contained some racially-charged language.

“Well u best get to looking for something for me negro I’m dry at the moment,” Justice wrote in one text.

A day later, the boy sent Justice a text informing him that his brother had been robbed and he didn’t have anything for him.

“Damn that’s nuts,” Justice replied after learning about the robbery. “Hopefully he’s alright but (expletive) hopefully he’s able to get me something I gave u 90$ like 2 weeks ago for something.”

When detectives raided Justice’s Elyria home on Jan. 27, 2014, he admitted he gave the teen $90 to get him pills and acknowledged he sent the text messages, the report said.

Justice said that he received one Percocet pill and a hit of acid from the boy, the report said.

“Justice denied taking the Percocet and LSD while on property or at work, and denied all allegations that he had ever sold or traded or given drugs to any residents, despite his admission of the drugs from (the teen) on his return from a home visit,” the report said.

Barilla described the allegations against Justice as a “unique situation” that the Juvenile Court handled by contacting law enforcement to deal with. She said the court closed down its internal investigation into his activities once Justice resigned.

She said there was a review that led to changes in some policies and procedures at Stepping Stone and other Juvenile Court facilities, including the installation of security cameras at Stepping Stone and other facilities that didn’t have them.

Barilla also said that a policy was also implemented that allows only nurses to have access to medication rather than other child care workers.

That was done not only in response to the Justice matter, but a related incident in which the wrong medication was given to at least one resident. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, which licenses juvenile holding facilities across the state, substantiated a complaint about the wrong medication being handed out last year, agency spokesman Ben Johnson said.

Johnson also said that now that Justice has been charged the state agency will reopen its own probe into the situation.”

Former county home worker indicted [North Cost Now 12/30/15 by Brad Dicken]

REFORM  Puzzle Piece

Update: A Search of the Elyria, Ohio court files shows that Sean is having a pre-trial conference on 6/20/16 and a jury trial on 7/26/16.