Wilson County Judge Chides DCS, Sends Repeat Juvenile Escapee To Commissioner

LEBANON, TN — Fed up with multiple escapes and calling the Department of Children's Services "neglectful and derelict," a Wilson County juvenile court judge ordered a repeat teenage offender delivered directly to the DCS commissioner.

The 16-year-old pleaded guilty Tuesday to six counts of theft, aggravated assault and felony reckless endangerment connected to a crime spree last week that ended with a county-line criss-crossing car chase. According to court documents, the teenager has walked off of unsecured DCS facilities five times since July 4, 2016, and Judge Barry Tatum apparently had enough.

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“The court finds that DCS by placing this child repeatedly in the non-secure placements with this type of history is neglectful and derelict in its duty to provide a secure, safe and productive environment for this child. The court finds further that if this child has this type of behavior and conduct while in his parent’s care, the child would be removed from that parent’s custody. Given that the child is in DCS custody, it is apparent that DCS is negligent and neglectful and reasonable efforts demand that this child be held in a secure facility to receive the treatment that he desperately needs,” Tatum wrote.

He then ordered that Sheriff Robert Bryan have deputies deliver the youngster directly to DCS headquarters and hand him over to the department's commissioner.

The deputies could not, in fact, turn the child over to Commissioner Bonnie Hommrich, who was at a meeting at Legislative Plaza, but DCS officials had already arranged for the teenager's transfer to a secure facility.

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