District Attorney’s office not prosecuting woman in case over son with disabilities
The Butler County District Attorney’s Office has decided to end its investigation and prosecution of an Evans City woman on a misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of her 13-year-old son with Down syndrome and instead connect her and her family with services from the county’s Children & Youth Services agency.
At the conclusion of status conferences held Tuesday morning, Sept. 9, in Butler County Common Pleas Court for numerous criminal cases, assistant district attorney Ben Simon told Judge Timothy McCune the case against Georgia Hartle, 55, will not be prosecuted, the investigation has been discontinued and the case will be handled by CYS.
“We believe other services are available through Butler County that can help her and her family instead of pursuing criminal charges,” Simon said after the conferences.
Hartle appeared for her conference, but said she was not given any of that information.
She said her attorney, assistant public defender Kimberly Hudak, told her to report to the Clerk of Courts’ office, provide her new address and to call her Monday, Sept. 15, when she would have more information. After providing her new address at the clerk’s office, she said she was told CYS wants her to submit to a drug test.
“I have no idea what’s going on,” Hartle said when contacted by the Butler Eagle for comment Tuesday afternoon after the conferences. “I wanted a jury trial from the beginning.”
She said she wanted to fight the endangerment charge Butler Township police filed against her in October 2024 alleging she failed to properly care for her son, Joshua, who police said repeatedly caused disturbances in other neighborhoods and had entered a garage and a home without permission in separate incidents. He was 12 years old at the time.
Hartle and her husband, John Hartle, said their son used to sneak out of their Butler area apartment, but he did not enter the garage. She said Joshua used to play with the children who lived in the home with the garage before that family moved.
John Hartle said he was watching Joshua at the time, and Georgia Hartle was asleep because she was up late the night before caring for her brother who has suffered multiple strokes.
“If you turn your back on him for a second, he’s gone,” he said.
“It didn’t happen on my watch. It happened on my husband’s watch. They wanted him to testify against me. They offered me six months probation, and the county was going to pay my fine, but I turned it down. Why should I be on probation when I didn’t do anything?” Georgia Hartle said.
“The (district attorney’s office) sent me a letter,” John Hartle said. “They wanted me to be a prosecuting witness. I told them there was no crime, no victim. I told them I was watching Josh when it happened. She was there, but sleeping because she was up late with her brother.”
He said CYS officials came to their home after each report of Joshua wandering outside, but came up with no findings and included that information in letters provided to the family.
“CYS has no findings. There’s no case. It says there’s no findings on every letter we have,” John Hartle said.
He said CYS offered to help to prevent Joshua from leaving the apartment by providing combination locks for the doors, and they accepted the offer.
Georgia Hartle said if she is not being prosecuted, the case should be closed and CYS should not be involved. She said CYS does not have an open case with her family.
“I don’t want to be involved with (CYS); I don’t need their services,” Georgia Hartle said.
“I think it’s a witch hunt,” John Hartle said, adding that Georgia Hartle has no history of drug use and the request for a drug test is insulting.
Georgia Hartle said one their new neighbors called police complaining about her son. She said Joshua manages to get out of their fenced-in yard.
“My poor kid can't even be happy. He loves being outside. He loves riding the quad. I just want my son to be happy,” she said.
“He’s not a prisoner. We’re not keeping him locked inside,” John Hartle said.
In their previous home, he said he used to used to screw the windows shut and had a chain lock on the door, but Joshua found ways to open them and sneak out.
“He’s doing great in school. He’s very smart. They say he might even be able to live on his own someday. He needs attention,” Georgia Hartle said.
