Former Maryland juvenile detention employee pleads guilty to sexually abusing 11 boys

A former Maryland juvenile detention center employee pleaded guilty Monday to sexually abusing 11 boys between 1968 and 1991.

As part of a plea agreement, Ronald Neverdon, who held various positions at the Charles H. Hickey Jr. School from 1973 until his retirement in 2013, faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Baltimore County Circuit Judge Robert Cahill Jr. is scheduled to determine his fate for 11 counts of child sexual abuse at a Sept. 29 sentencing.

Outside the courtroom, Neverdon’s attorney, Tony Garcia, declined to comment before sentencing.

The Charles H. Hickey Jr. School is located on Old Harford Road and used to be called the Maryland Training School for Boys. It can hold up to 72 boys who are awaiting placement or court proceedings.

The victims described being sexually abused in “substantially similar ways,” Assistant State’s Attorney John Magee said.

Neverdon, 79, of Woodstock, gave them cigarettes, alcohol, cannabis and other gifts and then threatened to extend their stays at the juvenile detention center or make their time there more difficult if they did not submit to his demands, Magee said.

When Magee gave a detailed account of the crimes, Neverdon sat back in his chair, shaking his head and occasionally leaning over to talk to his attorney.

At sentencing, Magee said he will also ask for five years’ supervised probation. Neverdon will not have to register as a sex offender because his crimes predated the law.

Baltimore County Police started investigating Neverdon in 2024, after a group of men came forward and reported that he had sexually abused them.

Sixty-nine men later filed a lawsuit in Baltimore Circuit Court against the state of Maryland and the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services, alleging that Neverdon victimized them as the government looked the other way.

Neverdon remains free on home detention.