Wednesday, April 14, 1999
Guard fired in wake of sex inquiry
Two other officers face charges
BY SHEILA McLAUGHLIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — A corrections officer accused of groping a female inmate at the Warren County Juvenile Detention Center has been fired, juvenile court officials said Tuesday.
Jay Hurd, of Hamilton, was terminated Monday after less than three years on the job.
The firing follows a disciplinary hearing last week on administrative charges of mistreating a resident and for immoral conduct for allegedly touching a female inmate's buttocks and chest Dec. 23 or Dec. 24.
Mr. Hurd was one of three guards who came under investigation in January when teen-age female inmates accused corrections officers of sexual misconduct.
Mr. Hurd was initially suspended during the investigation, but returned to work be cause the accusations against him could not be substantiated, prosecutors said.
Two other guards, Timothy Million Jr., 30, of Middletown, and Charles “Eddie” Heiber, 28, of Hamilton, face criminal charges in the case.
An internal investigation into Mr. Hurd was reopened in March after Warren County prosecutors and sheriff's officials reviewed the case. They decided that questions posed to the teen-age girl during the first investigation were not specific enough.
Detectives re-interviewed the girl and Mr. Hurd, and subjected each to voice stress analysis, which is similar to a polygraph, or “lie detector” test.
Mr. Hurd was placed on paid leave April 5 pending the disciplinary hearing.
Assistant prosecutor Mike Powell reiterated Tuesday that Mr. Hurd likely will not face criminal charges because there is not enough evidence to prosecute.
However, the allegations against him were enough to fire him because he serves at the pleasure of the judge, said Ron Lewis, who is Warren County Juvenile Court Judge Mark Clark's administrative assistant.
Mr. Million is to go on trial June 28 in Warren County Common Pleas Court on three felony counts each of sexual battery and corruption of a minor, as well as six misdemeanor counts of contributing to the unruliness or delinquency of a child.
Accusations against him include having intercourse with a 14-year-old female inmate at the facility in September and October 1998, making lewd comments to other girls and ordering a 16-year-old inmate to expose herself.
Mr. Heiber is scheduled for trial May 12 in Lebanon Municipal Court on two counts of public indecency and three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He is accused of exposing himself to two female inmates on Christmas.
Messrs. Million and Heiber have denied the allegations.
Both had worked briefly at the juvenile detention center. Mr. Million was fired and Mr. Heiber resigned in the midst of the January investigation.
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