Five employees of the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice, including David McKinney, Detention Center Director, age 53, of Rome, GA, have been indicted in connection with the death of a Northwest Georgia teenager last year who was being held at the Dalton Youth Detention Center in Whitfield County.
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, in August of last year, the Dalton Police Department asked the GBI to investigate the in-custody death of sixteen-year-old Alexis Sluder of Ellijay. Sluder died in the custody of the Dalton Youth Detention Center.
The Department of Juvenile Justice issued indictment warrants last week.
Those indicted include the detention center director, two officers, a cadet and a nurse who worked at the detention center. The Dalton Police Department and the Appalachian Regional Drug Enforcement Office assisted in the investigation. The Whitfield County District Attorney’s Office is prosecuting this case.
Those indicted were:
♦ Detention Center Director David McKinney, 53, of Rome, on one count of second-degree cruelty to children
♦ Sgt. Maveis Brooks, 35, of Calhoun, on two counts of first-degree cruelty to children and one count of second-degree cruelty to children;
♦ Cadet Russell Ballard, 62, of Chatsworth, on two counts of first-degree cruelty to children and one count of second-degree cruelty to children;
♦ Officer Rebecka Phillips, 45, of Chatsworth, on two counts of first-degree cruelty to children and one count of second-degree cruelty to children; and
♦ Nurse Monica Hedrick, 62, of Ringgold, on one count of second-degree cruelty to children.
