Aug 31, 2015 3 min read

A former Washington County juvenile probation employee pleaded guilty to inappropriately touching a 17-year-old girl and was sentenced to 12 months of probation.

Andre Sullivan, 25, of 6100 Spring House Place, Bridgeville, appeared Thursday before Washington County Judge John F. DiSalle and pleaded guilty to indecent assault without the consent of another. Another charge, institutional sexual assault, was dropped by the district attorney’s office.

Sullivan was accused of inappropriately touching the girl Oct. 20 while he was taking her home from the LEADER program, where he was a site-based monitor. The LEADER program is an after-school program for delinquent youths operated by the court’s juvenile probation office at Washington Park Elementary School. The program’s goal is to keep children and teens out of adult criminal court. Participating youths are transported to the program after school from across the county, and they receive help with school work, along with drug and alcohol, mental health and anger-management training.

Sullivan was employed as a monitor from May 12, 2014, to Jan. 28, a day after he was officially charged. He worked with youths in the program and drove them back and forth.

The victim testified at Sullivan’s preliminary hearing that she and Sullivan flirted on the ride to her home while they were alone in the vehicle. She said he asked to see her breasts and she willingly complied. He then fondled her. She said the pair had limited contact prior to the incident, although she said on several occasions he made comments about provocative photos she posted on social media and gave her leniency in violation of program rules.

Additional testimony revealed a policy is in place that is supposed to prevent male employees from being alone with female youths. There should be two employees working together at the program, and female passengers are supposed to be dropped off first. There is only one employee in each transportation van.

The girl testified after she got home she became emotional and confided in her sister about the incident. The next day, Oct. 21, she told a tutor at the LEADER program, who reported the incident to the juvenile probation department.

In addition to Sullivan’s probation, DiSalle ordered him to undergo sexual offender counseling and register as a sexual offender for the next 15 years. Assistant District Attorney Kristin Clingerman said Sullivan was granted permission to move out of state for employment. She said the victim was not present at the hearing but was aware and in agreement with his sentence.

Sullivan’s attorney, Peter Marcoline III, said his client accepted responsibility for his actions.

“Mr. Sullivan determined that the risk of going to trial was not the risk he wanted to take, and was willing to accept responsibility in order to move on with his life and to prevent the victim from having to speak about the incident again,” he said.