By Ashley B. Craig
Charleston Daily Mail
CHARLESTON, W. Va. — Authorities have filed charges against six teens accused of rioting in a Parkersburg juvenile detention facility earlier this year.
The Wood County Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against six juvenile offenders involved in a February riot at the Lorrie Yeager Jr. Juvenile Center in Parkersburg, said Lt. Michael Baylous, State Police spokesman. The incident caused more than $40,000 in damages to the facility.
Baylous said two teen boys began physically assaulting correctional officers, staff and other residents on Feb. 18 in a recreational dayroom at the facility. The violence escalated when the teens got two more boys to join them in using tables, chairs and throwing other items at staff members.
Corrections officers moved other residents and staff members to a safe location elsewhere in the facility. Two female residents refused to leave the room and participated with the others.
Authorities locked the six, four boys and two girls, in the dayroom where they broke windows, a large flat screen television, duct work and sprinkler heads. Troopers said the group broke into and destroyed property in three offices and an adjoining laundry room.
Troopers said the teens threatened corrections officers with weapons they made using scissors and rods from a foosball table if they entered the room. The four boys tried to escape the building by ramming a door with a folded ping-pong table but failed.
Corrections officers donned riot gear, heavily padded clothing and helmets with visors before entering the room. The six complied with the officers’ orders to get to the ground and were handcuffed and shackled, said Lawrence Messina, spokesman for the state Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety.
The whole event lasted for about two hours, Messina said.
Both a State Police and internal investigation was conducted into the matter. The troopers’ findings were turned over to the Wood Prosecutor’s Office for review, resulting in juvenile criminal charges against the teens.
The four boys were charged with destruction of a building by rioters, felony destruction of property, attempted escape and possession of a weapon by an inmate at a juvenile detention center. The two girls were charged with destruction of a building by rioters and felony destruction of property. The charges were filed in Wood Circuit Court.
Messina said it was his understanding that four of the six teens involved remain in the juvenile detention system but have been moved to other facilities. One of the teens is in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Resources and another of the teens was released.
He said an incident like February’s was “quite unusual.”
“We do have assaults,” Messina said. “We do have incidents where property is damaged, but this type of incident is quite unusual.”
He said the staff at the facility faces trying circumstances on a daily basis in trying to keep the residents focused and safe. The staff members, he said, should be commended for effectively resolving the matter. He also commended James Goddard, Division of Juvenile Services assistant director of operations, who has served as the day-to-day administrator at the facility since the February incident.
One corrections officer was injured in the incident. The officer broke an ankle in a fall while responding to the incident. No other staff members were injured.