The former staff member at a state-run juvenile detention center accused of sexually abusing six boys between 1976 and 1989, who was charged at the end of March in Baltimore County, was ruled eligible for home detention Monday.

Ronald Neverdon, 78, of Woodstock, is charged with 38 counts related to child sexual abuse.

He held various positions at the Charles H. Hickey Jr. School on Old Harford Road, including youth supervisor and group life supervisor.

District Judge Krystin Richardson, during a hearing in the District Court for Baltimore County in Towson, called the allegations “very serious.”

But, because of multiple factors, she ruled that Neverdon is eligible for home detention through the Baltimore County Detention Center.

Neverdon’s attorney, Tony Garcia, pointed out that he’s not had any violations, charges or other run-ins with the criminal justice system and that he would be willing to surrender his passport if asked.

Garcia also said that, while they would dispute the charges, the alleged incidents took place more than three decades ago.

The judge said she was initially reluctant to release Neverdon on home detention because his address was for an assisted-living center, and minors could have come to the building to visit other residents.

However, Neverdon will be eligible to stay with his sister, Cynthia Neverdon-Morton, a retired professor.

Neverdon-Morton told the court she lives with a 60-year-old nephew, but no one else. Because she is retired, she would be home most of the time, she said.

“No one would come there,” Neverdon-Morton said.

Neverdon has a preliminary hearing in court scheduled for May 2. As part of his eligibility for home detention, Neverdon must not have any contact with any minors or the alleged victims.

The charges against Neverdon came after police were contacted by an attorney in April 2024, representing a group of men who said Neverdon abused them.

Neverdon was charged less than one month after a civil suit was filed against the State of Maryland and Maryland Department of Juvenile Services that alleges Neverdon sexually abused them as children while the state looked the other way. He is not named as a defendant in that case.

Baltimore Banner reporter Dylan Segelbaum contributed to this report.