Former KY juvenile justice guard fined $5K for inappropriate contact with girl
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- Ethics commission fined ex-guard $5K for inappropriate contact with detainee.
- Moorman faces November trial on sexual abuse charges tied to 2023 incident.
- DOJ conducts civil rights probe into abuse, neglect at juvenile centers statewide.
The Kentucky Executive Branch Ethics Commission on Wednesday fined a former juvenile justice guard $5,000 for engaging in “inappropriate physical contact” with a girl who was housed at the Campbell Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Newport two years ago.
Neil A. Moorman, 31, awaits trial Nov. 17 in Campbell Circuit Court on two counts of first-degree sexual abuse related to the same allegations.
In the civil judgment handed down Wednesday, the ethics commission found Moorman abused his official position as a state correctional officer to create advantages for himself and satisfy his own interests.
An attorney for Moorman did not return a call seeking comment.
The Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice fired Moorman in June 2023 and notified Kentucky State Police after a review of security video footage suggested he kissed and had other inappropriate contact with one or more teenage girls inside the all-girls juvenile detention center.
Moorman told a state police detective he kissed a girl at the facility on three occasions — twice in her room and once in a closet — and hugged her. Moorman said he also accepted her phone number, calling her home to check on her once she left the facility, according to a report by the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet’s Internal Investigations Branch.
Internal investigative reports obtained by the Herald-Leader in 2023 show that the Department of Juvenile Justice did not act swiftly when presented with allegations about Moorman’s behavior.
Instead, the agency — long troubled by riots, assaults, abuse of youths and chronic under-staffing — allowed Moorman to continue working in the juvenile detention center despite weeks of warnings from his colleagues and safety concerns shared by several girls housed there.
Some of the girls said Moorman would come to their doors and try to talk to them while smiling, calling himself “Big Daddy” and making them uneasy. Moorman did special favors for girls he liked best, they said.
“Everybody knew about it,” one girl at the facility told investigators.
The civil judgment against Moorman comes just days after an Adair County jury convicted former teacher Elena Bardin on felony sex charges related to her behind-bars relationship with a 17-year-old student held at the Adair Regional Juvenile Detention Center, which also is operated by the Department of Juvenile Justice.
Jurors in Adair Circuit Court found Bardin, 27, guilty of one count each of first-degree sexual abuse, unlawful transaction with a minor and distribution of obscene material to a minor. They recommended she serve 14 years in prison.
State officials recently confirmed that the U.S. Department of Justice is continuing its civil rights investigation into possible mistreatment of youths at the juvenile detention centers following years of reports about abuse and neglect.
