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Ohio juvenile inmates may be charged as adults after rioting

Two of the inmates used fire extinguishers to try to gain access to the facility’s central control on Friday night

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By Jeff Saunders
Record-Courier

SHALERSVILLE, Ohio — Four teenage males facing multiple felonies following a riot at the Portage-Geauga County Juvenile Detention Center in Shalersville on Friday night are all currently being charged as juveniles, but that could change.

“We’re taking a look at that,” Portage County Prosecutor Victor Vigluicci said on Monday. “We haven’t made decisions about charging them as adults. We’re going to take a look at their records, get a little more detail on what happened and the extent of any injuries and we’ll make a decision on that down the road.”

Vigluicci said two of the teens charged are 16 and 17 and two are 15.

According to a press release issued Monday by Jae Leeworthy, the detention center’s new superintendent who started his job on Monday, multiple detainees allegedly began an “organized assault” on other detainees at about 8:19 p.m. on Friday.

“Detention staff immediately responded and were able to separate the victims of the assault into a safe area of the detention center,” Leeworthy said in the release. “Once the residents were separated, the aggressive youth turned their aggressive behavior toward staff.”

Two of the juveniles were then able to leave the secured living area and began to damage property by deploying fire extinguishers in a hallway and the facility’s cafeteria and gymnasium, he said. Following emergency procedures, the Portage County Sheriff’s Office was called and sheriff’s personnel, along with Ravenna police and an Ohio State Highway Patrol K-9 unit, arrived at about 8:22 p.m.

Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Ralph Spidalieri said seven detainees were allegedly involved in the “all-out brawl,” but three responded to commands from the correction staff and returned to their housing units. A third detainee also tried to escape from the pod, Spidalieri said, but was secured.

There were three correctional officers on scene that night, plus a fourth in the center’s central control. The two escaped detainees, Spidalieri said, took fire extinguishers and used them to try to gain access and take control of the central control area by harming the detention officer staffing the post, but the detention officer was not injured. Foam from the fire extinguishers was used to cover windows so deputies arriving could not see the area.

According to Leeworthy, however, the two detainees were found in the gymnasium and detained at about 8:29 p.m. Damage was minor.

Mantua-Shalersville Fire Department evaluated the detention staff and deputies for injuries sustained during the fight. Leeworthy said that none of the staff needed medical care.

Vigluicci said the two older teens are being charged with aggravated rioting and escape, both third-degree felonies, fourth-degree felony disrupting a public service and three counts of assault and single counts of vandalism and possessing criminal tools, all fifth-degree felonies.

The 17-year-old boy was being held in the detention center on a prior felony assault charge and a probation violation in connection with a previous aggravated assault charge, Vigluicci said, and the 16-year-old was being held on a felony grand theft of a motor vehicle charge.

The two 15-year-olds are charged with third-degree felony aggravated rioting and three counts of fifth-degree felony assault and one is also charged with third-degree felony escape and first-degree misdemeanor assault.

Vigluicci said both 15-year-olds were being held in the detention center on misdemeanors, including two counts each of assault, with one boy also charged with criminal damaging and the other with resisting arrest and obstructing official business.

Vigluicci said the prosecutor’s office is checking to see if any additional charges are appropriate, but he believes that not much more, if anything, will be added.

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