Md. pulls young sex offenders from residential center
By: Alan Suderman
Examiner Staff Writer
October 19, 2009
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| The Maryland Department of Juvenile Services ordered Karma Academy, a 13-bed treatment facility, pictured, to remove any sex offenders it is treating by next month. (Photo courtesy khiservicesinc.org ) |
Juvenile sex offenders will no longer be allowed to live at a residential treatment center in Rockville, a state agency ruled after neighbors said they felt unsafe in their own community.
The state Department of Juvenile Services ordered Karma Academy, a 13-bed treatment facility, to remove any sex offenders it is treating by next month.
Neighbors of the facility complained to elected officials after three teenagers escaped in September. Neighbors said they were concerned about a perceived lack of security and supervision at the facility and the fact they hadn't previously been told that convicted sex offenders were housed there.
"It seems more a question of when versus if something really unfortunate will occur," neighbor Nick Abid wrote in a letter to lawmakers.
Roger Larson, chief executive officer of Karma's parent company, said the company has housed sex offenders at the same facility for 22 years without "any issues." He said the sex offenders at Karma were non-predatory and were deemed by the state not to be a danger to society.
But state Del. Luiz Simmons, who lives a short walk from Karma, said, "You would have to suspend disbelief" to think that having sex offenders of any type living within easy access of potential victims wasn't dangerous.
"The community should have known about this," he said.
Rockville police said they have received 38 calls from Karma about missing residents in the last 16 months.
Simmons called that figure "very disquieting" and said Karma's problems illustrate the Department of Juvenile Services' long history of a "systemic deficit of the practices and procedures."
A spokeswoman for the department could not be reached for comment.
In July, the Attorney General's Office released a report outlining widespread problems at Victor Cullen Center, a secure facility in Frederick County for troubled youth where 14 youths escaped after several inmates took over part of the center and attacked and injured the staff in May.
The center is supposed to be the highest-security juvenile detention center in the state.
Last year, the Attorney General's Office also highlighted poor security and a lack of staff supervision at the Cheltenham Youth Center in Prince George's County.
