A 5-year-old boy climbed over a playground fence at Occoquan Elementary School in Woodbridge and ran across busy Old Bridge Road earlier this month, prompting criminal charges against two school employees who were supervising the playground at the time. The child was found unharmed and returned to school, but the incident has now resulted in delinquency-of-a-minor charges against a special education teacher and a teacher's assistant.
According to WJLA, the boy slipped away from the playground at around 2:13 p.m. on Oct. 7 while two employees were outside with students. He scaled the fence and made his way onto Old Bridge Road, a heavily trafficked roadway.
People nearby spotted the child in the road and called police, Patch reports. School staff located him and brought him back to the building unharmed, per the same WJLA account. The school sits at 12915 Occoquan Road in Prince William County, according to InsideNoVa.
Two Employees Now Facing Charges
Two Employees Now Facing Charges On Oct. 15, police charged 36-year-old Maira Rehan of Woodbridge and 28-year-old Kristina Forgas of Stafford with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, the station's report states. Forgas worked as a special education teacher at the school, while Rehan served as a teacher's assistant, the outlet notes.
Both women were released on court summonses, and their court dates remain pending, the same account indicates. Prince William County Public Schools has placed both employees on leave following the charges, according to the report.
DC News Now reported that the charges against the two Woodbridge school employees followed directly from the boy's escape from school grounds and his run across the busy road. The case was also noted in Potomac Local's police blotter this week.
What the Charges Could Mean
Virginia law addressing abuse and neglect of children lays out that a parent, guardian, or other person responsible for a child under 18 can face a Class 6 felony if a willful act or omission is so gross, wanton, and culpable as to show reckless disregard for human life, according to the Code of Virginia. It is not yet known how that standard relates to the specific charges filed against Rehan and Forgas, as no plea or court outcome has been reported.
The Prince William County Police Department notes on its own site that its daily incident reports do not capture every incident reported to officers or every arrest the department makes, meaning the public record of this case may still be developing. For now, a five-year-old child got past a fence meant to keep him safe, made it into traffic on a busy Woodbridge road, and was brought back without injury — while the adults who were supervising him that afternoon now await their day in court.
