Ivy Ridge Academy Staff Members Charged in Connection with Assault on Teen

November 21, 2006

Watertown Daily

OGDENSBURG - Two employees of the Academy at Ivy Ridge have been charged by St. Lawrence County sheriff's deputies with failing to prevent a 14-year-old from being assaulted by other students in September.

John E. Free, 32, of 7422A Route 68, and Keith E. Renaud, 39, of 121 Elizabeth St., were both charged with endangering the welfare of a child, deputies said.

The misdemeanor charges are a result of a Sept. 9 assault on a 14-year-old male student by four 17-year-old youths and a 15-year-old boy, deputies said.

The two men were employed as dorm parents at the time of the assault, were aware the older students were mistreating the 14-year-old and failed to use "reasonable diligence" in preventing the assault, according to Detective Sgt. Augustus T. Burns.

They are to answer the charges in Oswegatchie Town Court.