Odyssey of baby V.J.: Why a raped infant went home to Canton abuser after hospital visit

CANTON ‒ Baby V.J. doesn't have a law named after her — but maybe she should.

That sometimes happens for crime victims. After the fact, laws get introduced, passed and enacted to prevent others from suffering the same fate. Like the Adam Walsh Child and Safety Protection Act, Matthew Shepard Act or Megan's Law, named for Megan Kanka.

Too often, it comes after a victim's death.

But V.J. is alive.

She was 5 months old when she was raped last year by her 22-year-old father. He was sent to prison for life with no possibility of parole. V.J.'s 26-year-old mom is serving four years' probation (The Canton Repository is not naming the parents to help protect the identity of the baby.)

Along the way, though, V.J.'s story exposed flaws in a system designed to protect children.

What happened to baby V.J.?

After the rape, she was taken by her mom to Aultman Hospital on a Saturday in September. When Stark County Children Services did not respond to the hospital after being notified of suspected abuse, V.J. was sent home for the rest of the weekend. To the same house with her rapist. She waited days — presumably in pain according to court records — before she was treated at Akron Children's Hospital to repair tears to her anus.

"Unbelievable ... that should never have happened," said state Rep. Phil Plummer, R-Dayton, when he was provided details of the case by a reporter. "This is mind-blowing."

Plummer and state Rep. Susan Manchester, R-Waynesfield, had previously sponsored a law to require Children Services agencies to better communicate with law enforcement in suspected abuse cases.

House Bill 4 went into effect last year, before V.J.'s rape. But it contains a seven-day window for much of the inter-agency information sharing. Although the change in the law had added a layer of protection for children in suspected abuse cases, it didn't address V.J.'s situation — and won't stop it from occurring again.

Here's why:

By law, mandatory reporters, such as Aultman physicians, still must report suspected child abuse to Children Services or law enforcement. Only one or the other. But not both.

So, that's what they did.

On that Saturday, Sept. 17, Aultman staff contacted Stark County Children Services four times about V.J., but the agency did not send a case worker to the hospital. Instead, they waited until Sept. 19, to follow up on it. And no one notified Canton police of the suspected abuse until Sept. 20, four days after the rape.

"I'm willing to research this to see if the law needs changed again," said Plummer, who'd worked in law enforcement for three decades, including a stint as Montgomery County sheriff.

Aultman staff did not contact police

An ensuing Canton police criminal investigation of the rape revealed that:

• V.J.'s mom took her daughter to Aultman's emergency room on Sept. 17 for rectal bleeding. She provided them two stories — that the infant had a constipated bowel movement the night before; that she'd noticed blood while changing a diaper that morning. Both accounts, mom later admitted, were lies.

• An Aultman nurse noted the severe damage to V.J. was clearly not from a hard poop. That's why hospital staff repeatedly contacted Stark County Children Services. However, the agency's response remained the same; they would not be coming to the hospital, but instead would follow up on the case on Monday morning.

• Emergency room physician Aaron Clark declined to have Aultman staff contact police because he told a nurse "he couldn't be sure" V.J.'s injuries were from abuse.

• It wasn't until two days later, when V.J. was taken to Akron Children's, that the extent of her injuries were diagnosed. Staff there notified Canton police shortly after midnight.

Aultman Hospital declined comment and Clark did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

Jerry Coleman, executive director of Stark County Job & Family Services, which operates Children Services, said he could not comment on specific cases. He did speak, generally, about agency response.

"We're constantly re-evaluating. ... The system always looks to improve," Coleman said.

He said the agency has and will respond to suspected abuse calls from a hospital, based on information it receives. But he noted Children Services does not have legal authority to take emergency custody of a child, without an order from a Family Court judge.

Such action, he said, can be done on the spot only by law enforcement.

That's true. State law does give police power to remove a child from a home, if the child is in imminent danger. However, because neither Aultman nor Children Services had notified Canton police while V.J. was there, officers never had that option.

So, V.J. went back home, suffering from an injury that would eventually lead to surgery. Back to a Webster Avenue NE house with her mom, a father who'd raped her and four other adults.

Although Coleman did not speak about V.J.'s case, the agency was already familiar with her.

V.J.'s mom has two other kids and was pregnant with a fourth at the time of the rape. The custody status and where the four children currently live is unclear. V.J.'s mom initially responded to a request to be interviewed for this story, but never provided one.

According to police records, Children Services had worked out a plan with V.J.'s mom a month prior to the rape: The baby's father, once charged as a juvenile for a sex crime, was not to be alone with her.

The father's public defender who represented him in court did not respond to a request to be interviewed for this story. The conviction is being appealed in the 5th District Court of Appeals.

Aultman nurses upset over handling of case

Here's what happened on Sept. 19, three days after V.J.'s rape, when a Children Services case worker followed up on Aultman's report:

V.J. was taken to the Children's Network of Stark County. The state's first child advocacy center when it was founded in 1987, the Network brings together a multitude of disciplines, such as Children Services, law enforcement, medical staff and child advocates under one roof.

After a medical exam at the Network, the case worker was told to take V.J. to Akron Children's for a thorough evaluation. Finding damage to the infant, staff there performed a sexual assault kit on her, and reported the abuse to Canton police.

Finally, action was underway.

But the inexplicable delay wasn't lost on Canton police detective Kevin Sedares, who was among those assigned V.J.'s case on Sept. 20.

In a written report, Sedares wrote that Children Services' case worker assigned to V.J. could not explain why the agency hadn't responded to Aultman two days prior.

"I then went to Aultman ER and spoke with several staff who were highly upset with the manner in which the case was disposed of on Aultman's side," Sedares wrote.

Within two days of being notified, police had arrested V.J.'s father; they'd searched the Webster Avenue home and confiscated evidence, including bloody wipes and diapers; and detective Vincent Romanin got a confession from the father that he'd raped the baby.

"The confession was very important," said Kelsey DiFrancesco, the assistant Stark County prosecutor who'd prosecute and ultimately secure convictions of V.J.'s parents.

After all, there were multiple adults in the house and V.J. had spent two more days there after the rape.

Sedares, the detective, remained frustrated by how Children Services and Aultman initially responded when V.J. showed up in the hospital emergency room.

So, he wasn't done.

Text message: ER doc knew mom was lying

Especially when he later examined a text message between V.J.'s parents, which occurred when V.J. was at Aultman.

"The doctor said it doesn't look like she just had a poop; it might be something else and to take her to her doctor on Tuesday and see what he says," V.J.'s mom texted to the baby's father while she was at Aultman.

In November, Sedares emailed those connected to the Children's Network of Stark County. He explained that he now had evidence that the system needed fixing.

"The ER doctor had told (the baby's mother) that the injuries were not from a bowel movement ... yet sent the infant home anyway," he wrote. "We as a team of professionals who work together in the protection of children must absolutely ensure that another incident like this never happens again."

Through a public records request to the city of Canton, The Canton Repository obtained copies of email exchanges amongst those Sedares had contacted. They show that, in unison, many of those involved directly or indirectly with V.J.'s case agreed with Sedares:

• Dr. Cortney Owoc, pediatric director at Aultman, who also works at Akron Children's, referred to the handling of V.J.'s case as a "HUGE miss at Aultman." She also wrote, "This case is awful." In a separate email, she wrote, "My initial alert to this case was by two Aultman nurses, sobbing. "Both moms. Both went to the physician multiple times with concerns. I think empowering them will be very important."

• Dr. Paul McPherson, chief of the division of child protection and child abuse prevention at Akron Children's, said: "I too am disheartened about what happened to the patient and the missed opportunity to protect." In a separate email, he pointed out that Aultman tried to do the right thing by contacting Children Services multiple times. "Unfortunately, their response was lacking," he wrote.

• Chelsea Fashbaugh, Children's Network administrator, said: "We absolutely need to do better. ... I will ensure that Children Services is a part of meetings/training in the future ... "

• Alissa Edgein, nurse practitioner at the Akron Children's Care Center of Stark County at the Children's Network, said, "I do want you to know that (Children Services) is also looking into how this case could have been handled better on their end. This was a tough one for all of us."

The series of emails also indicated internal fixes — to prevent a reoccurence — may be in the works.

Owoc made a host of suggestions and explained she'd begin working with others to come up with a plan "to improve care for any and all potential abuses cases (presented) to Aultman ... namely early involvement of the pediatric hospitalist group being the most important."

McPherson largely agreed with Owoc's ideas, and added one.

"Detective Sedares, your suggestion of contacting law enforcement concurrently with (Children Services) is timely as it is important," McPherson wrote. "The Ohio Revised Code requires mandated (reporters) to contact either law enforcement or CPS when abuse is suspected.

"Frequently Akron Children's Hospital social work staff contacts both. I cannot speak for the typical practice for Aultman Hospital, but that will be an important point of discussion in future training."

Edgein's ideas included more and better training; early contact with the Children's Network or an on-call child abuse provider through Akron Children's; or even establishing some sort of direct referral system, should Children Services not respond on the spot.

Plummer, the state legislator, said he'll research related state laws, to see if something else needs changed. He said he wasn't aware of other instances where the either/or contact route to law enforcement or Children Services had been an issue.

After all, nothing in the law had prevented the hospital or Children Services from contacting police immediately.

"I didn't think we'd have to legislate common sense," Plummer said. "Shame on Children Services for letting that kid go back home ... that baby fell through the cracks; it's unbelievable."

Another fix in law needed? Parents convicted

House Bill 4, Plummer explained, was a response to the death of 10-year-old Takoda Collins in Montgomery County in 2019. It came after what prosecutors said was years of abuse.

In that case, Plummer said, Children Services wasn't communicating with police, so each side had only a partial story.

"The biggest hurdle there was the child advocacy groups; everybody wants to get territorial," he explained.

When the bill cleared the House and Senate in February 2022, Plummer and co-sponsor Manchester lauded the improvements.

"This legislation works to prevent any cases from failing through the cracks," Plummer said in a prepared statement. "House Bill 4 helps prevent any vital information from being lost and through a collaborative effort of all agencies, including law enforcement, we can help improve the outcome for children in dire need of help."

Among the changes is that Children Services agencies must now disclose to law enforcement confidential information it discovers during a child abuse or neglect investigation — within a seven-day window. It also requires Children Services to give written notice of a report's receipt or closure of an investigation to the reporter.

"With this legislation, we are creating safety nets for the children during the process of investigation," Manchester said at the time. “Too many times you hear about a child that should have been protected by the system. We don’t want that to happen to the children of Ohio."

DiFrancesco, who prosecuted V.J.'s parents, said medical evidence from both Aultman and Akron Children's hospitals were presented during the father's trial held in Stark County Common Pleas Court in March.

Akron Children's staff testified; DiFrancesco did not subpoena testimony from Aultman staff.

After being found guilty by a jury, V.J.'s father was sentenced to life in prison, with no chance of parole, on March 23 by Judge Kristin Farmer. The baby's mom, who'd changed her plea to guilty, got her four years' probation on endangering children and obstructing justice charges.

Her sentence also included a stipulation that she is not allowed to contact her baby, V.J., during that period — unless it's part of a care plan set up by Children Services.

After the criminal cases concluded, Sedares, the detective, filed a complaint with the State Medical Board of Ohio, over treatment V.J. had received at the Aultman emergency room.

The status of the complaint is unclear.

Under Ohio law, such complaints and investigative materials are confidential, said Medical Board spokesperson Jerica Stewart. Only formal action by the board, such as suspension or revocation of a medical license, for example, is a public record.

However, an email from a Medical Board investigator to Sedares on May 17 — also obtained in the public records request — indicated the board had subpoenaed and received V.J.'s medical records.

The investigator wrote that interviews were next.

Reach Tim at 330-580-8333 ortim.botos@cantonrep.com.On Twitter: @tbotosREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Raped Canton baby sent back to abuser's home from Aultman Hospital