Child Seduction: Woman At Facility For Mentally Ill Children Charged With Having Sex With 16-Year-Old Client

A female employee at the Oaklawn Psychiatric Children’s campus, located in Mishawaka, Indiana, has been identified as having sexual relations with a 16-year-old patient at the facility.

According to Fox 28 News, 22-year-old Nicole Martin has been identified as the woman in the case. She has been fired from Oaklawn’s Mishawaka location, and has been arrested as a result of seducing the child. Martin was a mental health technician at the Mishawaka facility. It has been determined that she had sexual relations with the child on at least three occasions in the last month.

According to the Elkhart Truth, Martin openly admitted to the child seduction charges and having the sexual relationship with the 16-year-old child. The incident at the mental health treatment center was discovered when an administrator at Oaklawn came into possession of notes that were being passed between Martin and the child. As soon as the situation of child seduction was discovered, Martin was fired from the mental health treatment center and the details were reported to local law enforcement.

At this point, Martin has been charged with three counts of child seduction by a child care worker. If convicted of the charges, Margin could face up to 18 years in prison.

The child seduction began when Martin started to flirt with the 16-year-old child. Her flirtatious banter crossed a line when she arranged for the two to have sexual intercourse on three separate occasions.

Due to the child’s age, his mental disorder has not been revealed at this time. It is unsure whether the child was cognitive enough to make his own decisions or whether he responded to Martin’s advances at her coercion. It has been revealed that two of the sexual encounters happened on the premises of the Oaklawn facility. One occurred in a bathroom, and the other in the laundry room. The third instance occurred outside of the facility during an outing. It has been revealed that two other patients of the facility were present. However, she stopped the van near a set of railroad tracks and allowed the other two individuals to leave the van while she and the 16-year-old remained inside for the sexual encounter.

A spokesperson for Oaklawn does not believe there are any other victims.

“After working with local law enforcement, DCS, and our staff we do not have any reason to believe that there are any other victims.”

Oaklawn officials released a statement about the incident of child seduction. They revealed that they took “swift action” to remove Martin from the premises and that a full internal investigation was being pursued.

In the statement, Oaklawn advised that their “main objective is to provide safe and secure treatment to all of our clients and we will continue to hold that in the highest regard.”

“We are committed to ensuring that all processes and standards are in place when hiring and monitoring our employees. Oaklawn employees go through a rigorous hiring process including seven background checks, drug tests and personal references.”

In addition, Oaklawn officials reiterated that training occurs for a period of weeks when an employee is hired, and that they contact client families for feedback on their caregivers on a regular basis. In situations where any of the caregiver’s actions are questioned, officials at Oaklawn investigate the claims.

Oaklawn has been a prime psychiatric mental care facility in the Michiana area for nearly 50 years. Many individuals, young and old, have received care at the facility and have been treated fairly and with the best care. Martin’s child seduction case has been determined to be an isolated incident and no other employees are thought to be involved.

[Image via Gdvcom/Shutterstock]