LOGAN COUNTY — The parents of the little girls who were sexually abused on a Benjamin Logan school bus left the Logan County courthouse on Monday feeling like they were fighting a losing battle.
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During Monday’s restitution, release and registration hearing, a judge released the teen boy from his lockdown rehabilitation program. The six-month program was part of his sentence handed down in January.
Many of the victims’ parents are worried since he lives in close proximity to their homes that one of their daughters may run into him, stirring up old memories from the incident and triggering trauma.
WHIO is not identifying the parents to protect the identities of their daughters.
“(My daughter) was worried today about whether he’d come home or not so now I got to tell her he did,” one father told News Center 7′s Jenna Lawson.
Now that the program is complete, the teen will remain under probation by the Logan County Juvenile Court until he is 18 although he will be under the same court’s jurisdiction until he turns 21.
That means should the teen re-offend before age 21, he will have to serve time either in the Department of Youth Services or in an adult prison setting — that option could result in up to 10 years.
Where the teen would be behind bars and for how long depends on the type of offense committed.
The victims’ parents were also upset about the Tier 1 sex offender classification that was given to the teen during Monday’s hearing.
The boy will have to register with the sheriff in the county in which he resides every year for the next ten years.
“Tier 1 is the lowest that you can get,” another father said. “(The incident) involved multiple six-year-olds, seven-year-olds.”
One part of the hearing that was tabled for another date is the issue of restitution for the victims.
Prosecutors have asked the judge for close to $3,300 split between two families to pay for therapy that was not payable through insurance and missed wages from attending hearings.
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The teen’s defense team objected to any restitution.
Another restitution hearing will be held at a later date.
The parents were hopeful that after Monday’s hearing, they could wash their hands of the case and begin to move on with their lives – but the additional hearing means the parents will have to come back to the courthouse later.
Both fathers say their daughters are coping with what happened to them as best as they can, but they still harbor a lot of anger and lash out at times.
One of the victims just recently became comfortable with riding a school bus again next to someone who wasn’t her sibling.
“The system just didn’t work,” one father said. “It worked for (the teen) but it didn’t work for these little girls.”
Cox Media Group
