Former Maryland juvenile detention employee pleads guilty to sexually abusing 11 boys

A former Maryland juvenile detention center employee has pleaded guilty to abusing boys at a state-run juvenile facility. 

Ronald Neverdon pleaded guilty Monday in a Baltimore County courtroom.

According to the Baltimore County State's Attorney Office, Neverdon pleaded guilty to 11 counts of child sexual abuse and was found guilty of one count for each of the victims.

Prosecutors are recommending a sentence of 30 years, with all suspended but 10 years, to be served at the Department of Corrections (DOC). The State's Attorney Office plans to seek five years of probation.

The probation will be supervised and will come with special conditions to include no contact with the victims, no contact with minors, successful completion of a sex offender treatment, and polygraph exams.

Lawsuit filed in 2025 alleged widespread abuse

A lawsuit was filed in 2025 that alleged Nevredon sexually abused more than sixty-nine boy while the state turned a blind eye to the abuse. 

Neverdon held various titles at the Charles H. Hickey Jr. School on Old Harford Road, including unit manager and housing supervisor from the mid-1960s to mid-1990s, the lawsuit stated. 

Neverdon, the lawsuit claims, gave them special privileges, provided them with money, drugs and expensive gifts and threatened to punish them if they disclosed the abuse.

The men "still endure the consequences of his abuse" and "remain trapped in the past," the lawsuit alleged.

A sentencing for is set for September 29.