More abuse charges at state school

Less than five months after six staff members of the Ozarks Horizons State School were charged with child abuse, another employee at the special needs school now faces similar charges on an unrelated incident. 

Christy Rinear, 49, of Mountain View, faces one count of abuse or neglect of a child and one count of endangering the welfare of a child, both class D felonies. According to a probable cause statement filed by Detective Jeremy Pounders of the West Plains Police Department, a teacher’s aide and a minor student both witnessed Rinear “grab” a nine-year-old nonverbal boy with Cornelia de Lange syndrome, and “slam him against a wall causing [him] to strike his head against the wall.”  Surveillance footage of the classroom corroborates the witness statements. 

Cornelia De Lange syndrome is a genetic condition that causes numerous physical, intellectual and behavioral challenges and developmental delays and profound intellectual disability, according to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. 

Rinear was employed as a teacher, according to court documents. The teacher’s aide reported this incident, which took place on Oct. 14 to the building administrator. 

Another teacher’s aide noticed bruising on the boy’s arm and reported this to the building administrator on Oct. 18. 

Detective Pounders’ statement is dated Dec. 21, and the Howell County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed charges against Rinear on Feb. 8. This matter is scheduled for arraignment before the Honorable Steven Privette on March 13. 

Last year’s criminal cases involving six defendants remain pending. Five of the cases are set for a plea or trial setting on Feb. 17 in the matter of the repeated abuse of a 13-year-old nonverbal autistic boy at Ozarks Horizons State School in March. Karen Gore, Cheryl O’Farrell Silva, Teresia Huddleston, and Barbara Baker are expected in court this week. 

A sixth defendant, Vernetta Burgess, will be arraigned on March 13. Her charges were bound over to a single count each of abuse or neglect of a child and endangering the welfare of a child on Feb. 8.