The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services has revoked the operating license of a youth group home in Carrick, where police said a teenager was beaten and choked to death by two other residents in January.
While a letter from the state agency to Circle C Youth and Family Services did not refer specifically to the Jan. 13 death of Nicholas Grant, 16, it made clear that a child’s death in the Carrick Avenue facility played a significant role.
The inspections “identified documentation of ongoing child to child mistreatment or abuse resulting in the death of child cared for in the facility and receiving services from the agency,” the March 31 letter said. It cited “serious violations including failure to report incidents, incomplete or inaccurate health and safety assessments, and not identifying or arranging appropriate medical treatment for the acute and chronic conditions of children.”
The licensing decision was based on violations identified by department inspectors at the Circle C group home on Carrick Avenue on five separate occasions in January and March, said the letter from director Matthew Jones of the Bureau of Human Services licensing to Richard Knouff, Circle C executive director.
Nicholas Grant, 16, who lived in the home, died three days after police said he was beaten with a vacuum cleaner and choked by Yusuf Shepard, 15, and Malik Crosby, 16, following an argument in the home on Jan. 10. Both teenagers have been charged as adults with homicide, aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy. Their attorneys are asking for them to be prosecuted as juveniles, and a hearing is scheduled Aug. 12, court documents show.
In March, the family of a different teenager sued Circle C claiming that officials there were negligent in their hiring of Jaymar Gilbert, 36, of the Hill District, who was charged with grabbing the teenager by the head and tossing him down a flight of concrete steps outside the Carrick home.
Circle C had until April 10 to request an appeal before the decision to revoke the license was final. It could not be determined Tuesday if an appeal was filed.
A phone message left with Circle C executive director Richard Knouff Tuesday night was not returned.
However, Hollie Geitner, a board member with Circle C, said the Allegheny County Department of Human Services has decided not to renew its contract with the agency, which expires June 30.
That apparently meant the death knell for the agency, which has been in operation for 48 years.
On May 6, the Circle C board voted to shut down the agency, and “by the end of this month everything will be done,” Ms. Geitner said.
Phone messages left Tuesday with officials at the Allegheny County agency were not returned.
Aside from the Carrick home, Circle C runs three other group homes for juveniles: one in Bellevue and two on the North Side.
“As a board we’re so proud of the work that the staff has done and the lives they’ve changed,” Ms. Geitner said. “This is the most difficult decision we could possibly ever be faced with.”
First Published: May 13, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
