NEOCAP supervisor pleads innocent

WARREN -- A resident supervisor at the Northeast Ohio Community Alternative Program has pleaded innocent to four counts of sexual battery.
Damon Vaughn, 35, of Kenilworth Avenue, Warren, entered the pleas Wednesday in the courtroom of Judge W. Wyatt McKay of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
A Trumbull County grand jury secretly indicted Vaughn on Friday. He voluntarily surrendered to authorities at the jail Wednesday morning.
He is being held in the county jail on a $7,500 bond. A pretrial is scheduled for Sept. 2 in the courtroom of Judge John Stuard. Vaughn declined to comment.
According to the indictment, Vaughn engaged in sexual conduct with a female inmate in April or May.
Chuck Morrow, an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, said Vaughn could face one to five years in prison on each count. According to state law, a person in authority, such as a jail guard or teacher, is prohibited from having sexual relations with the person they are supervising.
NEOCAP officials could not be reached.
NEOCAP serves both male and female nonviolent offenders. It is a 125-bed community-based corrections facility in Warren, which opened in 1997.
The facility has a staff of 58 full-time and 11 part-time employees. It provides common pleas judges with an alternative to prison or parole for nonviolent offenders.