Ex-resident supervisor guilty of sexual battery

A Willoughby woman said she and Vaughn had consensual sex in a staff restroom.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The former resident supervisor accused of having sex with a female inmate at Northeast Ohio Community Alternative Program here is guilty on four counts of sexual battery, and awaits sentencing.
Judge John Stuard of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court pronounced the verdict Thursday in the case of Damon Vaughn, 36, of Kenilworth Avenue, who was a resident supervisor at the facility when the crimes occurred.
NEOCAP is a community-based corrections facility. Judge Stuard heard the case without a jury in October. Vaughn remains free on bond.
A Willoughby woman said she and Vaughn had consensual sexual intercourse on two occasions in a staff restroom in April or May 2004.
Vaughn said that they did not -- and that he had not interacted with the woman in anything other than ordinary ways.
Vaughn said that it would be impossible for him to have sex with a resident in the facility, and that he would never do such a thing because of the damage it would do to his family.
Possible sentences
Vaughn faces from one to five years in prison on each of four counts. Vaughn was eventually fired from the job he held for about two years.
According to state law, a person in authority, such as a jail guard or teacher, is prohibited from having sexual relations with a person he or she is supervising, said Chuck Morrow, an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor on the case.
The facility, which has 125 beds, 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 and opened in 1997.
runyan@vindy.com