Mayor Adrian Fenty fired the head of the city’s juvenile rehabilitation agency under mounting political pressure to make changes to a system that has seen five of its wards killed and nine others arrested on murder charges this year.
Fenty announced Monday that Marc Schindler, interim director of the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, would be replaced by assistant attorney general for public safety Robert Hildum.
Deputy director David Brown and head of internment David Muhammad resigned from the agency, citing uncertainty about its future, a source with knowledge of their decisions told The Washington Examiner.
Schindler took over the department at the end of January, replacing Vincent Schiraldi, who left to run New York City’s probation agency. Hildum has supervised the prosecution of juveniles in the District since September 2007.
The Fenty administration declined to specify why Schindler was fired.
Since the beginning of the year, at least nine DYRS wards who had escaped from custody have been accused of murder and at least five have been slain themselves, The Washington Examiner was first to report.
Among those killed were:
» Joshua Hopkins, 19, a Capitol Hill intern and D.C. college student who had been under DYRS supervision since a 2008 arrest for destruction of property.
» DeVaughn Boyd, 18, one of four people gunned down in a March drive-by shooting in Southeast.
Among those charged with murder:
» Sanquan Carter, 19, accused of killing Jordan Howe on March 22 during a dispute over costume jewelry.
» The four District teens accused of robbing, shooting and killing D.C. middle school principal Brian Betts in April.
By Freeman Klopott, Staff Writer
Tags: DC Juvenile Justice