National News
Flaws In State Background Checks Include Child Endangerment Cases
May 12, 2015 posted by Steve Brownstein
10 Investigates uncovered how Ohio's criminal background check system is letting criminals slip through the cracks - providing families and law enforcement with a false sense of security. State officials have been silent on who these criminals are, but 10 Investigates discovered who some of these criminals are.
A man scaled fences through the woods in New Albany as he runs from police. His name: Michael Phillips. He was not running alone. After an hour long search, Phillips was caught carrying his dehydrated and injured two year old child.
New Albany Police Chief Greg Jones said "If he's going to put his child in that kind of danger, you kind of wonder what kind of danger he'd put the general public in."
Police took Phillips' fingerprints after his arrest. Those fingerprints are given a unique ID number, called an ITN. But in Phillips case, an error happened. His conviction for child endangering had one missing piece of information when it was sent to the state's database: Phillips' unique ID number was missing.
A person's criminal file should include all their arrests and court results. But if there’s no fingerprint and unique ID number to tie it all together, the info inside the criminal file can't be tied to the criminal. That means law enforcement or a prospective employer won't know the conviction exists.
Chief Jones said he’s "Very concerned. It's very important the conviction, particularly for endangering a child stick with him, that it's public record and it's available to law enforcement in the future or other interested parties."
Phillips' case is one of several identified by 10 Investigates for an error in court records. Another is Jessica Park. Last June, police found her passed out at a South Columbus gas station in the drivers seat of a truck. They learned that Park was there with a friend to inject heroin while her 3-year-old daughter was in the back seat. Police found Park passed out and near death.
Park explained, "I was a heroin user. I had to go to rehab for 4 months."
Police charged Park with Endangering Children. According to Columbus Police records, because she was taken to the hospital, no fingerprints were taken and no ITN was ever assigned. When her conviction was sent to BCI last November, even with a social security number, there was no record of her arrest.
When asked how that made her feel about the states record system, Park replied, “They're not doing what they need to be doing and keeping track of records the way they should. I don't want my past brought up for me after I've already dealt with it."
Other cases include a Columbus man convicted of endangering a mentally disabled person and multiple people who violated protection orders. A 10 Investigates analysis of Franklin County Municipal Court records shows that 36% of cases over 3 years lacked that key ITN that links a person's arrest with their criminal record. Court officials tell 10 Investigates that their latest manual shows that social security number can be used for reporting purposes.
But Attorney General Mike DeWine said, “ We are not getting in reports coming in completely from courts. We have been very aggressive and gone back to those courts in a nice way and said, please send them to us."
Franklin County court officials say they trusted BCI to fix those holes, but BCI tells us it has been the courts' responsibility. With both sides looking to the other to fix it, questions remain.
And Franklin courts are not alone. We talked to several other courts who say they also trust the state to fix the errors.
The Columbus Dispatch joined 10 Investigates in uncovering criminals off the record. Their latest story will be in Sunday's Dispatch.
