Woodburn Independent Online

Second teen center worker arrested

• By: Jason Horton  
• Published: 2/19/2010 3:34:16 PM

Marcus Merritt

WOODBURN — Woodburn police officials on Thursday arrested Marcus Merritt, 22, of Woodburn, in connection with an incident at the Legion Park Teen Center, where Merritt worked.
 
Merritt is accused of showing a nude picture to two 12-year-old boys at the teen center.
 
“There was an allegation made that the employee was showing inappropriate pictures to juveniles and so we investigated that and he was arrested (Thursday),” said Woodburn Police Capt. Jason Alexander.
 
Merritt was charged with two counts of furnishing sexually explicit material to a child, which is a Class A misdemeanor and has a $10,000 fine. He was cited and released.

Alexander said the investigation began Feb. 1.
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The arrest marks the second incident in the last few months at the teen center and forced City Administrator Scott Derickson to close the centers while the city does an internal investigation of hiring practices, programs and procedures.
 
Derickson said Merritt was fired on Feb. 2, the day he closed the teen centers.
 
The first incident occurred Dec. 9, 2009 when Randall Porter was arrested for sending inappropriate texts to a 14-year-old girl.
 
Derickson said both employees — Merritt and Porter — were drug tested and screened before they were hired.
 
“Neither one of them had a criminal record up until these incidents,” he said. “They applied and were drug tested. The city changed its new employee screening after Mr. Porter was hired, but Mr. Merritt passed a background check.”
 
The Legion Park Teen Center is operated by the city of Woodburn’s Recreation and Parks Department and located at 1365 Park Ave. Derickson said that Merritt had been a part-time employee in 2009 and was a teen center program lead worker.

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