ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — A Great Circle employee is facing nine abuse charges after charging documents said he was caught on camera hitting a non-verbal child with autism multiple times earlier this year.
Neil Riley II was charged with nine counts of abuse of a healthcare recipient, a class D felony after the Feb. 21 incident.
According to charging documents, Riley was seen on security video "throwing, slapping, punching, hitting and striking" the 14-year-old boy on his head. The charging documents said one of the hits knocked the boy to the ground.
Great Circle provided the following statement:
“Great Circle’s top priority is the health and safety of the clients and families we serve. Immediately after the incident occurred, Great Circle took action to suspend and ultimately terminate the employment of this individual. We also notified state authorities for further investigation.
Great Circle takes very seriously our work in keeping children and families safe. We conduct thorough background checks on all prospective employees, as we did in this case, and found no evidence of prior misconduct.”
Riley was a youth care specialist for Great Circle, a behavioral health care service provider in Webster Groves. Riley is the fifth employee to be charged with abuse in the last two months.
Andrew Wright, Dwayne Jennings, Amara Jorden and Wayne Roberts were charged with abuse of a healthcare recipient. None of them have been taken into custody as of this writing.
According to charging documents, all four of the workers physically abused children with autism. Police said two of the employees were seen abusing the children on video.
Amara Jorden was charged with two counts while the other three were charged with one count. The bond for each of the charged workers was set at $40,000.
The charges came as the facility announced it would be ending certain programs and laying off more than 100 employees.
In 2019, then-CEO of Great Circle, Vincent D. Hillyer, was arrested and charged with six counts of endangering the welfare of a child, one count of attempted endangering the welfare of a child and one count of fourth-degree assault in St. Louis County.
A news release from the Webster Groves Police Department said officers carried out a search warrant at the Great Circle Campus on North Gore Avenue in Webster Groves. The warrant was issued in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Social Services Children's Division.
Charging documents said the attempted endangering the welfare of a child and the fourth-degree assault charges were from an alleged choking incident.
The charging documents said children's services got a hotline call about the incident. The documents said Hillyer was shown on video choking and restraining a young child.
