Thursday, March 11, 1999
Jail officer facing sex charges was a felon
Judge wants hiring policy explained
BY SHEILA McLAUGHLIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — A judge is calling for a review of the hiring practices at Community Corrections Center (CCC) after learning the agency that runs it is employing felons.
Officials at Talbert House, the Cincinnati agency that runs CCC, told The Cincinnati Enquirer on Wednesday it knew Timothy Million Jr. of Middletown had a prison record when he was hired in 1998.
Questions about Mr. Million's criminal history surfaced this week when a Warren County grand jury indicted the former corrections officer for allegedly having sex with a 14-year-old girl under his supervision at the county juvenile detention center.
Mr. Million, 30, served time in prison twice from 1991 to 1993 on aggravated burglary, forgery and attempted drug trafficking convictions. He worked briefly at CCC as a corrections officer before landing a job at the Warren County Juvenile Detention Center last June.
Talbert House has a contract with common pleas judges from Butler, Warren and Clermont counties to operate CCC. The contract includes hiring and screening all employees there.
Judge Robert Ringland of Clermont County Common Pleas Court said he was not aware Talbert House employed convicts at CCC.
He intends to ask the chairman of the judicial oversight panel — Judge Michael Sage of Butler County — to convene a meeting of the judges to discuss Talbert House's hiring prac tices.
“It's something we need to look at,” Judge Ringland said. “I would assume everything they've done is appropriate. But if it isn't, the judicial panel has to act accordingly and do something about it.”
Judge Sage was in court and could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The center, on Ohio 63 near Lebanon, houses adult offend ers who have substance abuse problems. It is funded by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
Talbert House operates about two dozen halfway houses and employs about 500 people.
Talbert House officials said the agency's hiring practice follows state licensing standards for halfway houses.
According to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, that standard requires halfway house operators “not to deliberately exclude” job applicants because they have criminal backgrounds.
CCC is not a halfway house.
While the state sets the hiring standards for halfway houses, it does not set similar requirements for community-based corrections facilities, state corrections spokesman Joe Andrews said. That is up to the judges who oversee the operation.
The local panel turned that job over to Talbert House, Judge Ringland said. “We contract with them. We said, "Look, you run it, you handle it,'” he said.
Each applicant is reviewed on a case-by case basis, said Janet Patterson, director of human re sources for Talbert House.
“It really depends what is on that record. It would depend on the nature of the postion, the nature of the offense,” she said.
Ms. Patterson would not discuss Mr. Million's employment, saying personnel records at Talbert House are confidential. She also did not know how many people now employed by the organization have criminal histories.
Tara Yunker, a spokeswoman for Talbert House, said hiring former offenders fits Talbert House's mission: “We provide the opportunity for qualified recovering, chemically dependent individuals and ex- offenders to achieve successful rehabilitation through employment.”
Mr. Million was fired from the juvenile detention center in January during a criminal investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct involving three guards.
He now faces a dozen charges involving the 14-year-old girl and other female inmates who have accused him of making lewd remarks and ordering a 16-year-old to expose her genitals and breasts.
County juvenile officials did not uncover Mr. Million's convictions in a limited criminal records check of only Warren County records in 1998. They said they are conduct ing more complete background checks since the sex scandal.
Another former corrections officer, Charles Eddie Heiber, 28, of Hamilton, also is charged in the sex case. Accused of exposing himself to several girls in detention on Christmas, he is awaiting trial on misdemeanor charges of public indecency and contributing.
A third guard returned to his job because investigators lacked evidence to support sexual allegations against him.
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