State Reprimands Judge Lemons for Rescuing Kids From Dangerous Home
A Scioto County Judge took matters into his own hands to rescue children from a filthy and dangerous home, and now the state wants him to pay.
The State of Ohio says Judge Richard Alan Lemons “deputized” members of his staff to conduct emergency removals of children from their parents because he was frustrated with CPS red tape.
Scioto County Judge Richard Alan Lemons said he was frustrated with Scioto County CPS that he visited a home and issued an order to remove children from what he felt was an unsafe situation. The Ohio Supreme Court’s Board of Professional Conduct says he should be publicly reprimanded for his behavior.
The board says Judge Lemons issued an emergency order to remove children from their home and place them in the permanent custody of CPS after conducting a personal inspection of the home.
Further, the board says he never disclosed his personal involvement during subsequent hearings and failed to remove himself from the case due to that involvement.
The recommendation acknowledged that both the judge and Scioto County CPS were under tremendous strain due to the opioid epidemic and the overwhelming number of cases involving children coming before the court.
They quoted Judge Lemons as saying, “It seemed to the court that everybody, every parent, seemed to be high and strung out.”
Download the full 18-page court report here for free.
To cope with the overwhelming number of cases, the board says Lemons admitted that he appointed certain members of his staff to accept private referrals about a situation involving children and “deputized” members of his staff and CPS workers to remove children on an emergency basis without a formal ruling from the courts.
Lemons told the board he was frustrated with the inaction of Scioto County Children Services. Lemons said he urged CPS to act more quickly on the reports of child neglect and abuse they received but had no luck. The judge called the county an “opioid war zone.”
The specific case that prompted this investigation involved a father with a long history of arrests. (This year he was arrested for the 49th time. )
He was arrested in 2017 for corrupting a minor with drugs and put in the Scioto County Jail. The children’s mother was also incarcerated at the time. The children were in the care of their invalid grandfather.
A worried school resource officer contacted a member of the judge’s staff because he was worried for the children’s safety. As a result, a member of Judge Lemon’s staff and the father’s probation officer visited the house. They discovered an overflowing toilet, a house full of dog feces, a broken refrigerator, no beds for the children, and that the water had been turned off.
However, when a CPS worker visited the home, she told the court that CPS protocols prevented her from immediately removing the children. When the judge pressed her over the decision, the caseworker allegedly admitted she “wouldn’t leave a dog in that house.”
A frustrated Judge Lemons decided to visit the home where he discovered the grandfather’s oxygen tank next to an open flame, a filthy house, no refrigerator, and the children inappropriately dressed for the weather. The judge decided to go ahead and issue an emergency order to remove the children without consulting CPS or the parents of the children that he had visited the home.
The father only discovered the judge had been in the home when he reprimanded him at a custody hearing.
The board reprimanded the judge for failing to disclose the visit and for failing to remain neutral in a judicial procedure. They acknowledged he had a clean record and meant well, but said that was no excuse.
They recommended he be publicly reprimanded and pay the court costs of $1,349.
This incident took place in 2017, two years before the murder of baby Dylan Groves, which resulted in the state taking control of Scioto County Children Services.
Download the full 18-page court report here for free.
