FAIRFIELD COUNTY – Four juveniles from Cambio Academy on Greenbrier-Mossydale Road were arrested last week for burglary/breaking and entering and for destruction/damage/vandalism.
Fairfield County Sheriff’s deputies were called to Greenbrier United Methodist Church the morning of Nov. 4 in reference to a break-in.
The incident report states that while the person who called the deputies said nothing appeared to be missing, a downstairs window was broken and an outside door with a small blood smear was open. Several cushions on the floor were laid out to form what appeared to be a bed.
Due to experience with juveniles in the area and a call the previous day from nearby Cambio Academy concerning four juveniles who had run away on Nov. 3 and returned Nov. 4, deputies went to Cambio to speak with the four juveniles, the report stated.
All four juveniles told deputies that, during the night they ran away from Cambio, subject No. 3 broke the window to the church and all four of them slept inside the church, according to the incident report.
All subjects admitted to taking water and lighters they found, the report stated.
It was also reported that subject No. 3 appeared to have several scratches on her hands and legs and allegedly told deputies that she sustained these injuries while climbing into the window. The report states that after she climbed through the window, she opened the back door to let the other subjects in. All four juveniles said they left the church and returned to Cambio in the morning, the report stated.
Sheriff Will Montgomery told The Voice that this is not the first call his deputies have made to the Academy which houses troubled female teens. In an editorial in the Oct. 26 issue of The Voice, Councilman Douglas Pauley expressed concern about how time consuming Cambio has become for the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Department.
“My deputies have made well over 100 calls to Cambio during the five months since it opened,” Montgomery said.
“We’ve had meetings with Cambio’s management, the County, Senator Fanning and others about this,” Montgomery said. “We’ve got to find a solution.”
A hearing for the juveniles was held in Family Court on Tuesday.
Unfortunately the developer of Cambio is trying to open a similar facility in a historic neighborhood in McCormick County. Like the good people of Fairfield County we are being sold a false bill of goods about a high end private school. Had it not been for Councilman Pauley’s editorial about the problem we would never have known what was happening. We will always be grateful to him for stepping up to speak the truth. Our economic development office is promoting the facility because of the so called jobs it will create but your experience has certainly enlightened us. A grass roots movement is underway and hopefully we can prevail.