Gainesville Juvenile Detention Center employees arrested for allegedly allowing inmates to attack 15-year-old boy and neglecting to provide medical care

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Delmonica Harris, 53, and Dionysio Devontae Mavin, 28, have been charged with felony child neglect after Mavin allegedly allowed a group of inmates to attack a 15-year-old inmate at the Alachua County Juvenile Detention Center and neither employee sought medical care for the victim.

A Gainesville Police Department officer reported that at about 1:34 a.m. on June 16, 2024, surveillance cameras showed the 15-year-old victim lying on a mattress on the floor in a pod. A second juvenile inmate can be seen walking around the pod and speaking to other juvenile inmates and the victim. A few moments later, the victim was surrounded by five juvenile inmates.

Mavin, a detention officer, allegedly entered the pod at that point, apparently eating, and did nothing to de-escalate the situation or speak to the juvenile inmates. A short time later, the juvenile inmates reportedly attacked the victim.

The investigating officer reported that Mavin said something into his radio and then “casually” walked over to the juveniles as they continued attacking the victim; by the time he reached the group, the victim appeared to be unconscious, but the juveniles were still actively attacking him, including stomping and hitting him.

About 10 seconds reportedly elapsed before Mavin tried to pull one of the juveniles off the victim, but he was unsuccessful, and he allegedly let go of the juvenile and backed away. The attack reportedly continued about five more seconds and then the group partially dispersed, leading to a better view of the victim, who was “obviously unconscious.”

About 30 seconds later, the victim reportedly regained consciousness and sat up, but the investigating officer reported that no aid or medical treatment was offered to him, and he was not removed from the pod.

Mavin walked over to the victim, and while he was standing there, one of the juvenile inmates reportedly walked over and hit the victim at least two more times in the face while Mavin allegedly did nothing.

At about 1:38 a.m., the video reportedly showed Mavin and another employee trying to move the victim out of the area; meanwhile, the juveniles who attacked him are still walking around the area. The investigating officer noted that Mavin walked several feet ahead of the victim, who had just regained consciousness after his head was stomped; the victim was “obviously and apparently not steady on his feet and is seen carrying his bed mat and blanket with him as he exits while [Mavin] is empty-handed.”

The investigating officer also noted that the victim was forced to walk past one of the juveniles who attacked him, and as he passed, that juvenile swung at him but missed and hit the mattress instead. The officer wrote, “Finally, [Mavin] positions himself between the juvenile inmate” and the victim.

The victim was moved to an isolation area, but the investigating officer noted that according to detention center records, he still had not received any medical attention. The investigating officer noted that at the time of the attack, there were only four employees at the facility, although the minimum staffing is eight.

Harris was reportedly a Major at the Juvenile Detention Center and the highest-ranking employee there. She reportedly spoke with the victim after he was placed in the isolation area, and in her official written statement, she reportedly wrote that she had witnessed the entire fight from the facility’s control center. She wrote that when she spoke to the victim, she noted that he had several scratches and abrasions and that she would “follow-up with medical in the morning.”

The investigating officer wrote that he learned that the Juvenile Detention Center has a policy that if a child loses consciousness, they must request an ambulance to have the child evaluated; he confirmed that this was never done. Two days reportedly passed before the victim received any type of medical treatment, and it was later learned that he suffered a concussion. Medical professionals with the Child Protection Team, who interviewed the victim after he was released on July 1, told the investigating officer that the victim may have sustained long-term effects from the concussion because he was not treated immediately.

The investigating officer also reported that nobody at the facility notified law enforcement or the victim’s mother about the attack until the victim was released on July 1 and his mother saw that he had a “black eye” from the attack.

The officer wrote that Mavin failed to take action to prevent the victim from being attacked, failed to intervene after he was attacked, and failed to provide him with any medical care or attention. He wrote that Harris’s failure to provide medical care to the victim may have also resulted in long-term effects on the victim’s health. Both defendants have been charged with child neglect without great bodily harm, a third-degree felony.

A warrant for Harris’s arrest was issued on December 2, and she was arrested on December 16 and released on $10,000 bond. A warrant for Mavin’s arrest was issued on December 2, and he was arrested on December 13 and released on $10,000 bond. The defendants’ booking photos are unavailable because photos of detention officers are not public records.

Despite multiple calls and emails to multiple media contacts at the Department of Juvenile Justice over several weeks, we were unable to get any information about the employment status of the defendants.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.