A criminal complaint filed through district judge Matthew Kirtland’s office said two Franklin state police troopers responded to the facility at about 12:45 a.m. after receiving a report of staff members being assaulted by one of the youth detained there.
One of the employees, who serves as a night watch child care worker, told police he was in one of the units trying to help with a youth who was causing a disturbance when 19-year-old Abdul Ortiz wanted to come out of his room to go into that unit, the complaint said.
The staff member told Ortiz to stay in his room multiple times, but he didn’t listen and came at him, the complaint said.
The employee said he tried to block Ortiz from going down the unit, and that is when Ortiz began pushing and hitting him, the complaint said.
Ortiz was placed in an emergency physical intervention hold by the employee in an attempt to get him to stop, the complaint said.
The staff member told police Ortiz would calm down but then start up again several times, according to the complaint.
At one point, a second staff member came over to assist and they all slipped on the floor, with Ortiz eventually punching the first employee in the face, the complaint said.
The first employee said Ortiz hit him in the face again when he stood in his doorway after they got him into his room, the complaint said.
During an interview with police, the second employee said Ortiz tried to knee him in the groin and punched him three times when he tried to stop the initial assault, the complaint said.
Ortiz was arraigned by Kirtland on two felony counts of aggravated assault and placed in the Venango County jail on $45,000 bail.
A preliminary hearing in the case has been scheduled for Sept. 7 in Central Court.
