4 juveniles, 1 employee charged in sex assault at DJJ facility

DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — Four juveniles and one employee have been arrested after a reported sexual assault at a privately run Florida Department of Juvenile Justice facility.

Walton County sheriff’s deputies responded July 5 to the Walton Academy for Growth and Change at 286 Gene Hurley Road, according to a WCSO news release. The facility is run by Rite of Passage Inc., which is contracted through DJJ to provide a secure residential treatment program for boys ages 13 to 18.

When deputies arrived, the clinical director of the facility told them a victim had been sexually assaulted by several other juveniles, the release said.

Deputies spoke with the 15-year-old victim who told them that Walter Harvey, 16, of Winter Haven, and Brian Burton, 17, of West Park, grabbed him off the couch and dragged him down the hall to a dorm room.

There, Berkley Bell, 17, of Daytona Beach, and DeQuan Myers, 17, of Tampa, held him down while Bell tried to assault the victim with a travel-sized Pert shampoo bottle.

Surveillance footage and independent witnesses confirmed the information provided by the victim, according to the release.

Harvey, Burton, Bell and Myers were arrested July 6, charged with lewd and lascivious battery to a victim 12-16 years old and false imprisonment.

Further investigation revealed an employee of the facility, Antoine Travell Davis, 27, of Crestview, was seen on a surveillance video unlocking the cell doors where the incident occurred. After unlocking the doors, Davis left the immediate area in direct violation of facility policy.

After the victim was brought to the cell, Davis returned to the area and could be seen standing in the doorway watching the incident, the release said. He stood in the doorway for one to two minutes talking with other juveniles who had gathered and appears to be laughing while the victim was being assaulted.

After the assault, Davis and the victim fought after Davis grabbed him by the shirt and shoved him on an adjacent table.

Davis was arrested July 12 on charges of lewd and lascivious battery and promoting sexual activity on a victim less than 16, false imprisonment and battery, according to the release.

"DJJ does not tolerate this type of behavior and the contracted staff person involved in the incident has been terminated," DJJ said in a statement released Friday afternoon. "Their actions are inexcusable and it is our expectation that they be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law."

According to the statement, the DJJ’s Office of Inspector General is investigating this incident and the department will assist WCSO in its investigation.