MEMPHIS (CN) - A supervisor in Shelby County juvenile hall repeatedly had sex with an underage girl, gave her alcohol and drugs and sent her money to run away from the custody of California Children's Services, and the county knew he had been acting inappropriately with girls for years, the girl's mother claims in Federal Court.
Shelby County employee Henry Hodges propositioned the girl while she was in his temporary custody, awaiting transfer to California, the girl and her mother say. They say that after she left Memphis, Hodges sent her money for a bus ticket, encouraged her to run away back to Memphis, then repeatedly had sex with her, in various ways, and got her high.
They claim all this happened in 2006, and that Shelby County had received complaints as early as 2004 about Hodges' inappropriate acts with young girls. After Hodges was charged, in 2006, with contributing to the delinquency of a minor for helping the girl run away from California, Shelby County merely suspended him for 15 days, then let him return to work with young girls, the complaint states. He resumed his sexual predations upon the underage girl in 2007, but the county did not fire him until April 2008, when allegations of his misconduct with other girls surfaced, the complaint states.
Represented by Walter Bailey, the girl and her mom demand punitive damages.
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