Former DHS employee faces sex charge against 15-year-old foster child - Oklahoma

By GINNIE GRAHAM

Correction: A Wednesday Tulsa World story about a criminal charge filed against former Oklahoma Department of Human Services worker Ronald Jay Green II contained incorrect information. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation received the referral from the Stillwater Police Department to handle the investigation on Sept. 26. This story has been corrected.
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A former employee of the state Department of Human Services has been charged with committing a sex crime against a teenage girl in foster care while he was on staff with DHS.

Ronald Jay Green II, 23, was charged Thursday in Tulsa County District Court with one count of forcible oral sodomy, and Special Judge David Youll issued a warrant for his arrest.

Green worked in the Stillwater DHS office from May through October 2010 as a temporary social worker aide and was paid $8.80 an hour, according to DHS spokeswoman Sheree Powell.

On Sept. 13, 2010, Green was transporting a 15-year-old foster child from Stillwater to a Tulsa placement when he allegedly engaged in the sex act, said Jessica Brown, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

The victim came forward last year with the allegations, and the OSBI was called by Stillwater police Sept. 26 to oversee the investigation, Brown said.

The alleged abuse occurred in Tulsa County, Brown said.

Green has no disciplinary actions on file with DHS because the allegations were made after he resigned, Powell stated in an email.

"The accusations against Mr. Green are disgusting and extremely disturbing," Powell wrote. "The safety of the children entrusted into our care is our top priority. Although the disclosure of this incident came out almost a year after Mr. Green resigned from (DHS), our staff immediately reported it to the proper authorities for investigation."

The commission overseeing the DHS this month agreed to a settlement agreement of a federal class-action lawsuit that had alleged abuses in the state's foster-care system. Part of the allegations involved staffing, training and reasonable workloads to ensure the safety of children while they are in DHS care.

The settlement agreement has to be approved by a federal judge.

The suit was filed by Children's Rights, a New York-based child advocacy group.

Source http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20120118_11_A9_Aforme289796