FamiliesFirst CEO Speaks For First Time Following Girl's Rape Investigation
DAVIS (CBS13) - The CEO of a group home at the center of Davis police investigation is speaking out days after an 11-year-old girl was allegedly raped.
The girl says she was raped by two boys while under the care of FamilesFirst.
"I'm outraged," CEO Darrell Evora said. "So I understand the public being outraged. We'd never want that to happen to a child in our care."
The CEO is speaking for the first time since facing public scrutiny over how his youth facility is run.
"Very sad, and then shocked, and dismayed," said Evora.
CBS13 also learned the facility has more than 500 calls to the Davis police department this year alone, and has had 100 runaway cases in recent years.
"We're doing our best now to shadow kids and keep them in line of sight," said Evora.
Evora says FamiliesFirst has increased its staffing and added security in the parking lot. He also says the number of runaways sounds high to him, but it could be because of the definition of runaway.
"When a kid walks off our campus, even if someone follows him and he comes back, we have to document that incident. So I don't believe it's as bad as it sounds," said Evora.
He says FamiliesFirst changed their program model to restrain kids less last year, making it easier for them to potentially escape.
"I knew the running behavior had increased; but, again, we thought that would go down in time as staff used alternative methods," said Evora.
Evora also points to how the facility looks.
"There's not big tall fences, or razor wire, and we can't restrain the kids from leaving," said Evora. "We can't lock them in a room."
When asked about his concern about the Davis FamiliesFirst facility being shutdown, Evora said he thinks "authorities believe we're going to take the steps necessary to fix it, but you never know."
As for the alleged rape of the 11-year-old, Evora says he can't comment until the investigation is complete.
Forty kids still live at the FamiliesFirst facility. Evora confirmed police and Child Protective Services did take away several kids this week, but it's not known how many.
