HARTFORD — Quiazinnia Hall has been on the radar of local police since April 2020 when a 14-year-old in her home alleged she was being forced to have sex with an older man in order to get haircuts, cellphones and new clothing, according to an arrest warrant.
But police didn’t serve the warrant charging Hall, 33, who is nine months pregnant, with trafficking and conspiracy and accessory to commit second-degree sexual assault of a minor until she was at a supervised visit with several of her children at a state Department of Children and Families facility Friday afternoon, court documents said.
However, instead of being taken into custody, a DCF social worker, Melisa Roberson, 43, helped Hall flee by getting the mother and her children out of the building and driving them in her state-issued vehicle to a different location as police were stalled by agency security personnel, a police report said.
The incident escalated to the point that DCF Deputy Commissioner Michael Williams arrived at the scene and told police that “Roberson’s alleged behavior is not within protocol or standard practices of the agency,” the report stated.
Roberson has been charged with first-degree hindering prosecution and risk of injury to a child and has been suspended from her DCF job while police and the agency investigate.
During Hall’s arraignment Monday, her public defender argued her advanced stage of pregnancy and lack of a criminal history would make her a good candidate for release. Hall spent the weekend in jail before posting bond late Monday afternoon and is expected back in state Superior Court in Hartford Sept. 7.
Roberson also spent time in jail before she posted $100,000 bond Sunday. She will appear Wednesday in Hartford Superior Court. As a DCF social worker, Roberson made $61,406 in 2021, according to the state’s OpenPayroll website.
Police said they were alerted to Hall on April 12, 2020 when the 14-year-old reported feeling “mistreated,” the warrant stated.
The girl said that as recently as April 5, 2020 she had sex with a man who was Hall’s ex-boyfriend, the warrant stated. The age difference between the girl and the man was 24 years, the warrant said. The girl is now 16, police said.
The girl initially told an investigating officer that the sex was consensual, the warrant stated. When questioned about the incident, Hall told police the girl was sexually active and she wasn’t aware that anything had occurred between the child and her former boyfriend who at times lived in her house, the warrant said.
But during a forensic interview with clinicians from the Klingberg Children’s Advocacy Center in Hartford, the girl revealed that several sexual incidents had occurred, and that at times, Hall would encourage her to make the man “happy” by committing certain sexual acts, the arrest warrant said.
The forensic interview was observed by a DCF employee, East Hartford police and an agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the warrant said.
The girl said at times Hall told her that if she didn’t commit sexual acts with the man that “you’re not getting your hair done,” “no cellphone” or there would no “new clothing,” the warrant said.
In all, the girl recalled more than 15 incidents involving the older man, court documents said.
An East Hartford detective tried to obtain an arrest warrant for Hall in August 2020, but was unsuccessful after the document was reviewed and rejected by a prosecutor, the arrest warrant said.
Hartford police obtained a signed arrest warrant, charging Hall with multiple offenses, including trafficking people, on May 26, 2022.
Hartford police were acting on a tip that Hall was at the DCF location on Hamilton Street Friday afternoon visiting with several of her children, according to a police report for Roberson’s arrest.
Police arrived to serve the warrant, but DCF security personnel were reluctant to confirm to officers that Hall was in the building, investigators said. An officer observed that Hall’s name was on the log for entering the building, but she had not signed out, the report said.
By that point, Roberson was sneaking Hall and the children out a back door of the building into her car, police said. She had been the social worker assigned to help the family for about 30 days, the report said.
DCF officials declined Tuesday to comment on how long the family had been under the purview of the agency, how long the children had been in foster care with Hall granted supervised visits or what incidents had occurred that prompted the agency to take custody of the children.
Officers called Roberson’s supervisor who told police she instructed her employee not to leave the building with Hall and the children, the report stated. The DCF supervisor said she “openly and explicitly” discouraged Roberson from helping Hall to flee, the report stated. But police didn’t know if by that point, Roberson had already left with Hall, the report said.
Roberson finally returned to Hamilton Street after dropping off Hall a few blocks away and bringing all of the children back to their foster parents, the report said. Roberson was placed in handcuffs when she arrived, police said.
Hall showed up at the location a short while later after she called her father for a ride and he encouraged her to face the charges, the report said.
Roberson “has not had extensive contact with Hall” during the 30 days she was assigned to the family, DCF officials told police. But she was aware “of the reason for DCF involvement and the allegations of sexual abuse” regarding children and that Hall was under investigation by Hartford police, the report said.
Roberson declined to speak to police prior to her arrest. Hall said she was in the middle of a scheduled one-hour visit with her children when Roberson told her that police were out front and wanted to speak with her, the report said.
Roberson told her to get out of the building with the children and then they climbed into the DCF worker’s state-issued car, Hall said, according to the warrant.
“Roberson then drove her and the children to an intersection on New Park Avenue and told her to wait until police were no longer around,” the report said.
Source : www.registercitizen.com