A state agency is investigating a former youth worker at Arrowhead Ranch over allegations of abuse.
The Coal Valley facility has already fired the case worker and now the Department of Children and Family Services is looking into what happened.
Michaela Rosenow was court ordered to the state-licensed juvenile facility after aiding with an armed robbery.
While in custody at Arrowhead, the now 17-year-old says her caseworker came on to her in a series of text messages and inappropriate contacts, including kissing on the lips in the juvenile's room and a staff office.
"She would go underneath the blanket and rub my feet and she tried touching my vagina. She also touched my butt when we were making popcorn and when we had an "individual" (which is a one-on-one session) she went in my room and pulled down my pants and told me my panties were cute," Michaela said.
Michaela eventually told her mother, Kelly Fullington, what was happening.
"She said that some lady at Arrowhead Ranch has been flirting with her. I asked her details and she wasn't telling me so I went through her Facebook," Fullington said.
Fullington said messages sent from the case worker's account include: "Just let me know how to please you," "Don't be afraid to show yo freak," "I got you something for Christmas, I got lip gloss from Victoria's Secret. I wanna see them babies shine," "I work with kids. I could get that on my record and not be able to do what I wanna do later in life. But I trust you 100," and "Your secret's safe with me."
"I thought it's disgusting. There's more going on. This lady should not be there working with these kids. She's there to help my daughter, not to hurt her," Fullington said.
The teen says the case worker threatened her as well.
"She did come in my room, and her exact words were if I were to say anything to anybody, that she'd catch a murder case," which Michaela says is slang for "she'd kill me."
Fullington notified Arrowhead about the allegations, and it conducted an internal investigation, which lead to the caseworker's dismissal.
"The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is currently investigating a former employee of Arrowhead Ranch for allegations of abuse. Arrowhead Ranch has fired that employee," said Andrew Flach, a spokesman for DCFS,
The Rock Island County Sheriffs Department also launched a criminal investigation into the allegations, and Michaela's mom believed some kind of criminal charge would follow.
According to police reports obtained by WQAD, the case worker was questioned by investigators and admitted kissing the teen and said she might have tried to touch the teen's vagina, but never made contact because she had on baggy sweatpants. She said she may have said something about "catching a murder case," and said the text messages were all a joke, that she likes to "play." She admitted flirting with the teen, but said she "would never let it go too far."
In the end, the Sheriff's Department and the States Attorney's Office declined to press charges. Sheriff Gerry Bustos says there wasn't enough evidence of a crime that could be proven in court.
"There was inappropriate texting. I just have to keep referring back that it didn't raise to the level of a crime within the State of Illinois," Sheriff Bustos said. "We could not substantiate it had gotten to that point and I'm not saying it couldn't have. Luckily we were able to get it stopped," he said.
DCFS says after it concludes its investigation, it could red-flag the caseworker, making it tougher to find work in her field.
But Fullington and her daughter believe that is not enough to protect the public and future troubled teens.
"I don't feel it's right since I was in a residential facility and she had taken advantage of me," said Michaela, who had suffered sexual abuse at the age of 11. Michaela said she told the caseworker about her past.
"She's been sexually abused before, she spills her guts to a staff member and then she takes advantage of her? She should never be allowed to work with children again. She needs to be arrested for what she's done," Fullington said. "I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do as a mom. She deserves to be arrested."
Arrowhead CEO Angela Moody says she can't talk about the case, calling it a "personnel issue" but said any questionable allegations get turned over to DCFS.
"We feel it's important that our kids feel safe. We have very strict policies," Moody said.