Youth facility employee faces firing in wake of rape charge
A teacher’s assistant at the state-run Highland Residential Center who was charged this week with rape and sexual abuse has been suspended without pay and is facing termination, according to a spokesman for the New York Office of Children and Family Services.
In an statement emailed late Thursday, Craig Smith wrote: “The safety of the youth in our care is our top priority. OCFS has zero-tolerance for inappropriate behavior and holds staff accountable if they break the rules.”
Smith said the department “is conducting an internal review of facility protocols” at the Highland center, which houses juvenile delinquent males.
Nicole Potts-Miller, 36, of Middletown, was arrested by state police Wednesday and charged with felony rape and misdemeanor sexual abuse for alleged acts involving two residents of the Highland Residential Center. Police said Potts-Miller was a teacher’s assistant at the facility on Chodikee Lake Road in Highland when the incidents are alleged to have occurred.
Potts-Miller was arraigned before Esopus Town Justice Elizabeth Shanley-Manicone and sent to the Ulster County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail.
The Highland Residential Center is operated by the state Office of Children and Family Services. The center serves “male, adjudicated juvenile delinquents, generally between the ages of 12 and 18, placed ... by the Family Court,” according to the state office’s website.
The residents live in five buildings on the center’s grounds.