Months after a former Lorain County group home employee, Sean Justice, was indicted on claims he swapped prescription drugs with at least one troubled teenage boy in his care, the mother of an alleged victim said those criminal proceedings are not enough to ease her mind.
Now, Lisa Cutter is demanding a refund of roughly $2,600 in child support payments she was ordered to pay to send her son Jacob Cutter to the Stepping Stone Residential Center in Elyria.
“It is an injustice for me to be court ordered along with my husband to pay child support while he was in their care,” she said. “We have to jump through hoops to try to get our money back!"
A problem with marijuana and stealing sent Jacob to that Lorain County-run group home when he was 15-years-old. The teen spent about three months at Stepping Stone, but when he left, Jacob said marijuana was no longer the problem. Instead, he was addicted to alcohol and Xanax.
"Feeding his own drug addiction and getting someone else addicted to something,” Jacob said of Justice.
Justice pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy and corrupting another person. His trial is set to begin later on in July.
Four years later, now 19, Jacob said he still struggles to stay away from the the powerful prescription drug.
"Obviously I still want to take Xanax all the time,” he said. “It's a chemical addiction.”
Jacob said he’s now trying to get his GED and turn his life around. Meanwhile, his mom sent a letter to Lorain County domestic relations court administrator Jody Barilla asking for that refund. Barilla responded on Tuesday, after newsnet5.com called, telling Cutter she would need to file a court motion.
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