Charges dropped against woman in birth control case
Accusers said girl had been coerced
Prosecutors on Friday withdrew charges against a Beaver County woman accused of forcing a 12- yearold girl to get a birth control implant against her wishes and without the permission of her mother.
Valerie Fullum, 29, of New Brighton, is “elated,” her attorney said Friday.
“She was hoping that the truth would come out,” lawyer Steven Townsend said. “She didn’t think it would be this quick.”
Mr. Townsend said the case, which was charged in Allegheny County because the clinic that provided the birth control implant is in Turtle Creek, was turned over to Allegheny County police. Their investigation, Mr. Townsend said, led to the decision to drop the case.
“Charges were withdrawn because additional investigation turned up evidentiary issues that we could not overcome,” said Mike Manko, spokesman for the Allegheny County district attorney’s office.
While Mr. Townsend applauded the decision, he said the toll of being arrested in May was still affecting Ms. Fullum.
‘ This was a very damaging case to my client. She lost her job. The damage to her reputation is irreparable,” Mr. Townsend said. “She was made out to be this villain. If taken these facts as true, she would have been a villain. But that wasn’t the truth, obviously.”
Police in Turtle Creek accused Ms. Fullum of taking two girls who were staying overnight at her house to Adagio Health in Turtle Creek in April instead of to school. The facility bills itself online as a “comprehensive reproductive health care” clinic.
Ms. Fullum told the girls “that they were getting birth control,” the criminal complaint against Ms. Fullum said.
“After both children voiced that they did not want birth control to Fullum, she stated to [ one girl] she was getting it anyway,” the complaint said.
Police said Ms. Fullum checked in one of the girls as a patient “and, as a result, forced her into receiving a birth control implant into her arm,” the complaint said.
Ms. Fullum then took the girls back to New Brighton and dropped them off at a park, instructing them to not tell their parents what happened, according to the complaint.
In May, when side effects prompted the girl who received the implant to seek medical care, her mother and the mother of the other girl went to police.
But Mr. Townsend dismissed the story they told investigators as bunkum and claimed that the two mothers were “in cahoots” to go after Ms. Fullum.
“My client didn’t force her or threaten her or coerce her in any way, shape or form to do anything,” Mr. Townsend said at the time. “She was not doing anything against this girl’s best interests. … Nothing was done against the child’s will.”
On Friday, Mr. Townsend said the allegations against Ms. Fullum came against a backdrop of a child custody case in which she is embroiled in Beaver County that involves the 12year- old’s mother.
As for the Allegheny County case, he’s not ready for it to be over just yet.
“I hope and anticipate that maybe false reports [ charges] get filed in this matter,” Mr. Townsend said.
Mr. Manko said he could not comment on whether the case remains open and could result in others being charged.