The regret-ridden mother of a 13-year-old boy who was groomed and raped by his adult female social worker wishes she never let the predator in her home. In a statement read in court Thursday, the unidentified mother told Payton Shires, of Ohio, that the abuse has devastated her son and negated any faith she had in the nation's social services, the Columbus Dispatch reported. 'Instead, he was manipulated, groomed and sexually abused by Ms.
Shires worked with the National Youth Advocate Program, which pairs foster children and other kids with counseling and support. Shires was terminated after the allegations came to light. The counselor was released on $50,000 bond after her arrest, and showed up at the victim's home brandishing a gun. The boy's mother, she ranted, had destroyed her life by alerting authorities to their relationship. Shires, police said, threatened to kill the parent.
was not thinking rationally at the time that I showed up to the mother's house,' she told the court Thursday, claiming that she was suicidal in that moment. 'I'm just thankful that she took the right steps to call the police,' Shires said, reasoning that the arrest prevented her from continuing farther down a dark path.
Shires asked Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge Mark Serrott for mercy at the sentencing, telling the court that she has a 4-year-old son and suffered from longstanding and untreated mental illness. But Serrott slammed Shires for her actions. 'He was a child,' the judge said before handing down the term. 'He was trying to get the help he needed.'