Teenager allegedly attacks 2 boys at detention facility
ALLEGHENY TWP — A Maryland teenager is jailed on $50,000 bail after he allegedly attacked two boys at a juvenile detention facility in northern Butler County.
Deonta I. Frank-Wilks, 18, of Baltimore is charged with misdemeanor assault in the incident Thursday at Western PA Child Care on Route 38 in Allegheny Township.
State police said they were called to the detention center about 2:50 p.m. for a reported assault.
A staff member told troopers that he saw Frank-Wilks, a detainee, walk up behind a 17-year-old boy and punch him in the back of the head, according to charging documents.
The defendant then immediately punched a 14-year-old boy in the face, in what was described as an unprovoked attack. Both boys are also detainees.
Mid-Atlantic Youth Services owns the secured detention facility that houses males and females aged 16 to 21 who have been placed there following court disposition of their juvenile cases.
Police said that both assaults were captured on security video.
Frank-Wilks, after being separated from the victims, documents said, threatened “to attack anyone that he sees including staff” when he was released from jail.
District Judge Lewis Stoughton later that night arraigned the teen on two counts each of simple assault and harassment, and remanded him to the Butler County Prison.
Frank-Wilks's preliminary hearing is scheduled April 16 at Stoughton's office in Chicora.
