WEBSTER GROVES, Mo. — Four employees of Great Circle, a child behavioral welfare organization, were charged Tuesday after police said they abused children with autism at the Webster Groves facility.
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 come weeks after the organization announced the Webster Groves campus was ending its residential treatment program.
RELATED: Great Circle in Webster Groves to end residential treatment program, other programs will continue
In a news release, the organization said the residential program would come to an end once all new facilities can be found for the clients currently in the program. All other programs at the facility will continue, the release said.
The decision comes less than a month after the state of Missouri announced it was suspending the placement of children in the program at the Webster Groves campus.
Other Great Circle locations will continue residential treatment programs, including campuses in Columbia, Marshall, Springfield and St. James.
According to the St. Louis Business Journal, Great Circle will lay off 117 people in connection with the end of the program.
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.