Juvenile officer ordered to pay more than $800,000

KTVOTV3/August 16, 2004
By John Garlock

Hannibal, Mo. -- A federal judge has ordered a local juvenile officer to pay Northeast Missouri's Heartland Christian Academy hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorney fees and expenses.

The ruling was handed down Monday by Judge E. Richard Webber of U.S. District Court in Hannibal.

In late May, Heartland asked the court to make Mike Waddle of Kirksville, the Chief Juvenile Officer for Missouri's Second Judicial Circuit, pay in excess of one million dollars worth of attorney fees and related expenses stemming from a case brought against Heartland by local authorities.

On Monday, Judge Webber ordered Waddle to pay more than $808,000 to Heartland Christian Academy, located just south of Newark, Missouri.

Back in October 2001, Waddle headed up a mass removal of 115 students from Heartland, reportedly to protect them from alleged abuse at the home for troubled youngsters.

Since then, numerous hearings and even a federal trial have taken place. Earlier this year, Judge Webber issued a 163-page opinion stemming from last year's trial.

The judge's order bars local juvenile officers from taking Heartland children into protective custody again without meeting specified criteria.

In the ruling, Webber also accused Waddle of lying under oath about his reasons for the mass removal.

Waddle told KTVO Monday afternoon that he had not yet received a copy of the ruling and therefore could not comment at this time.