Bastrop shelter caretaker accused of exploiting girls was fired from previous job for misconduct with children

The caretaker accused of selling nude photos of two teenage victims of sexual abuse at a state-contracted shelter in Bastrop was previously fired from a nearby state juvenile facility for having inappropriate relationships with children in her care, state records show. Iesha M. Greene was fired by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department in April 2020 after seven months on staff at the Giddings State School in Lee County. She was hired 16 months later by The Refuge, a private Bastrop facility for girls who have been sexually abused. Texas authorities say Greene in January solicited and sold nude pictures of two girls in the facility’s care. The incident eventually led authorities to shut down the 50-acre ranch while they conduct an investigation. The Refuge officials have testified that they run state-required background checks on all prospective employees and that Greene’s screening revealed she did not have a criminal record.

The Refuge spokesperson Steven Phenix said the facility was “absolutely not” aware Greene was fired from Giddings, which he said would have prevented her hiring at the Bastrop facility. Phenix said Greene did disclose her employment at Giddings, but The Refuge’s hiring staff never contacted her former supervisors there. The Texas Tribune obtained Greene’s personnel files, which are publicly available, through a records request. The incident has prompted The Refuge to strengthen its hiring practices, Phenix said. “We have instituted requirements that go above and beyond the state’s requirements to further reduce the chances a hire like this will be made again,” he said. He described Greene as a “perpetrator with criminal intent.” Greene was hired as a youth development coach at Giddings, a correctional facility for boys, in September 2019, Juvenile Justice Department records state. Six months later, the department launched an investigation into Greene regarding her conduct during a shift on Feb. 23, 2020. The assigned investigator reviewed surveillance footage from that day and stated in a report that Greene allowed youths to use a staff phone and computer, against policy, where they accessed social media and pornography, some of which they printed via a staff printer.