Remaining charges dismissed against former Butler County Jail teen intern

HAMILTON, Ohio (WXIX) - The remaining two charges have been dismissed against a former Butler County Jail teen intern.

It happened after her trial Friday in juvenile court.

The misdemeanor charges of obstructing official business and disorderly conduct were dismissed with prejudice. A case that is dismissed with prejudice is permanently dismissed and cannot be brought back to court.

Her attorney recently told FOX19 NOW there wasn't enough evidence to meet the legal standards for either charge.

The teen, who has turned 18 since she was arrested earlier this year, is now no longer on electronically monitored house arrest.

The Butler County Prosecutor's Office already dropped the most serious felony charges against her back in July.

At the time, County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser told FOX19 NOW he would explain why once the case was over.

The Butler County Sheriff's Office charged the teen in March with bringing drugs and a cell phone into inmates - including one who killed a store owner during a robbery - while she was working at the jail as a Butler Tech student.

The Butler County Sheriff's Office charged the teen with three felony counts of illegal conveyance of weapons, drugs, or other prohibited items onto the grounds of a detention facility or institution.

Her internship was through the school's criminal justice program.

Butler Tech halted its two internships with the sheriff's office in March and jail internships remain suspended, a Butler Tech spokesman recently confirmed.

The inmates she was accused of helping are Willie Attaway and Larkin McGowan, both 32, sheriff's records show.

Both of the inmates have violent criminal records and were or are currently at the jail on a federal hold for U.S. Marshals in Cincinnati and Columbus.

Attaway "admitted to murdering" and pleaded guilty last year "to using a firearm to commit murder and other crimes of violence" in the February 2021 shooting death of Madeira store owner Roop C. Gupta, 68, according to an August 2023 news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio.

Attaway was recommended to serve a sentence of up to 45 years in prison after also admitting to brandishing a gun to rob or attempt to rob the four other stores. in a two-day crime spree.

McGowan was at the jail on a hold for U.S. Marshals in Columbus, according to the sheriff's office. His criminal record includes convictions for burglary and aggravated robbery.

McGowan is no longer at the jail but Attaway remains in custody there, the jail roster shows.