Police: Md. Health Worker Helped Juvenile Sex Offender Escape

A 26-year-old mental health worker at a Maryland treatment center helped a juvenile sex-offender escape custody this week, took him to her home and had sex with him, state police said Thursday.

The juvenile, who is 17, was back in custody after being picked up in Delaware, police said. He has been charged with escape. The mental health counselor, Tyra Greenfield, was charged with harboring and sexual child abuse.

"It's an unusual case," said Lt. James DeWees of the Maryland State Police. "And it's a sad case, because this institution otherwise does very good work."

The teen had been confined to the 26-bed New Directions Program at the Chesapeake Treatment Center in Baltimore County, which provides psychiatric treatment for juvenile sex offenders.

On Monday, he, six other juveniles and three supervisors went on an organized outing to see the movie "I Can Do Bad All By Myself," officials said. After the movie, the 17-year-old bolted across a parking lot, ran to a nearby convenience store and waited for Greenfield, who'd been one of the supervisors at the movie, DeWees said. The supervisor, who had been at New Directions for three months, no longer works there, said Executive Director Pat Bixler.

Police made contact with a relative of the juvenile's in Laurel, Del., on Tuesday. The relative eventually told them of incoming calls, which investigators were able to trace back to Greenfield's cellphone, police said. They went to her home in Baltimore County on Wednesday morning.

"She unfolded the story," DeWees said.

Greenfield told police that she had struck up a relationship inside the treatment center with the youth, DeWees said. As part of the escape plan, she met him at a predetermined location after the movie, DeWees said.

Under Maryland law, a person who has the care and custody of a 17-year-old cannot have sex with that person, even if it's consensual, DeWees said. Greenfield also is accused of driving the juvenile to the relative's home in Delaware.

Sgt. Derrick Calloway, a spokesman for the Laurel, Del., police, said officers received information that the teenager was in a house in town. Two officers approached the front door.

"As they were knocking on the door, he runs out the back," Calloway said. Police gave chase, and one officer told the suspect to get on the ground or they'd release a police dog, the sergeant said.

"He was smart. He gave up before the dog got to him," Calloway said.

Greenfield, who'd been at the center for only three months, has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Oct. 30. It wasn't clear if she had retained an attorney, and she couldn't be reached for comment.