The Latest: Missouri child welfare agency head indicted

ST. LOUIS – The Latest on charges against the head of an alternative school in suburban St. Louis (all times local):

4:45 p.m.

The head of a suburban St. Louis child welfare agency and alternative school for children with severe behavioural problems has been indicted by a grand jury.

The two-count indictment charges 58-year-old Vincent Damian Hillyer of Eureka with attempted endangering the welfare of a child, a felony, and misdemeanour assault. Online court records do not show an attorney for Hillyer.

The charges in the indictment replace the original ones, which included six felony child endangerment counts. His bail was set at $205,000.

Hillyer was arrested Tuesday after police executed a search warrant at Great Circle Academy, an alternative school that offers boarding in Webster Groves, Missouri. The organization has five other schools across Missouri and serves other children through its counsellingcentres.

Communications director Bev Pfeifer-Harms said in a written statement that the investigation centred on “care provided in a small number of circumstances.”

Hillyer has been placed on administrative leave.

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9:50 a.m.

The head of a suburban St. Louis child welfare agency and alternative school has been charged with child endangerment and assault.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Vincent Damian Hillyer, of Eureka, was arrested Tuesday after police executed a search warrant at Great Circle Academy, an alternative school that offers boarding in Webster Groves, Missouri. The organization has five other schools across Missouri and serves other children through its counsellingcentres.

Hillyer is charged with six felony counts of first-degree child endangerment and misdemeanour counts of attempted child endangerment and fourth-degree assault. His bail is set at $205,000. No attorney is listed for him in online court records.

Communications director Bev Pfeifer-Harms said in a written statement that the facility learned about the investigation Tuesday but declined to provide more details.