Ex-Maryland juvenile detention worker gets 10 years for sexually abusing 11 boys

Testifying in Baltimore County Circuit Court on Tuesday, Glenn Green described how he met Ronald Neverdon after a judge sent him to the Maryland Training Center for Boys in the 1960s for truancy, theft and running away from home.

Green said at first he trusted Neverdon, who worked for decades at what’s now called the Charles H. Hickey Jr. School. But then, he said, Neverdon sexually abused him.

“I didn’t do anything to deserve such aggression,” Green, 66, of Baltimore, said. “Yet he did unspeakable things to me.”

Green was one of two men who spoke about how the crimes upended their lives before Circuit Judge Robert Cahill Jr. sentenced Neverdon, 80, of Woodstock, to serve 10 years in prison plus five years of supervised probation. Before his retirement in 2013, Neverdon sexually abused 11 boys between 1968 and 1991, which the judge condemned as “monstrous conduct.”

Cahill said he used to send young people to the juvenile detention center with the hope they would receive help — but for those who encountered Neverdon, that’s not what happened.

“They were preyed upon. Victimized. Abused in the most profound way,” Cahill said.

The Banner does not name survivors of sexual abuse without their permission. Green said he wished to be identified because he’s well-known in the community and wanted others to see how the crime affected his life.

In his victim-impact statement, Green also said he forgave Neverdon and did not want him to go to prison.

Baltimore County Police started investigating Neverdon in 2024, and 69 men later filed a lawsuit in Baltimore Circuit Court against the state of Maryland and the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services, alleging that he sexually abused them while the government turned a blind eye. The case remains pending.

Neverdon would give the boys gifts, including cigarettes, alcohol and cannabis, and threaten to extend their stays or make their lives more difficult if they did not acquiesce to his demands, prosecutors reported. He pleaded guilty in August to 11 counts of child sexual abuse.

Six of the survivors, as well as the lead detective, attended Tuesday’s sentencing.

Assistant State’s Attorney John Magee said Neverdon treated the juvenile detention center as his “personal, depraved sexual playground” and exploited, victimized and tortured vulnerable children.

“This defendant was put into a position where he was supposed to be protecting these boys,” Magee said. “A message does need to be sent.”

Magee pushed for the maximum sentence under the plea agreement of 10 years in prison.

Neverdon’s attorney, Tony Garcia, asked the judge to consider home detention and noted that his client suffers from several medical conditions, including prostate cancer, diabetes and hypertension.

Garcia said Neverdon has expressed “extreme remorse.” Several of his siblings wrote a letter seeking leniency.

“He’s got such a loving family,” Garcia said. “There’s a lot more to him than the allegations.”

The Rev. Clarence Fowler, Neverdon’s pastor at Morning Star Baptist Church of Christ in Baltimore, described him as a God-fearing man and faithful worker.

“I respect him,” Fowler said. “He’s loved by our church.”

Because of pending lawsuits, Neverdon, at the advice of counsel, declined to address the court.

“No,” he said, “I have nothing to say.”