Man charged in shelters case got new government job

A Judge of Guarantees imputed charges for the alleged mistreatment of minors and imposed precautionary measures to prevent Michael  Olson from leaving the country.

The case dates from the middle of last year and is related to the transfer of minors to the Vida Libre Refuge, located in Las Garzas de Pacora, which cares for adults with drug addictions, one of whom sexually abused an adolescent .

Olson, 29, was arrested by agents of the National Police on Monday morning at his residence in Villa Lucre, when he was preparing to go to work in the Government of Panama, in charge of Carla García, who was deputy director of the Senniaf until  February 8. She is now Governor of Panama.

The Superior Family Prosecutor’s Office – headed by prosecutor Aurelio Vásquez – requested provisional arrest on the grounds that Olson, in his capacity as legal coordinator of the Senniaf, knew of the irregularities under investigation and could represent a risk to the process by having access to documents related to the case.

However, the defendant’s public defense refuted these arguments and specified that he resigned from Senniaf seven months ago, so he does not represent a risk to the process. The lawyer was the one who revealed that Olson works in the Government of Panama and, according to the transparency node of the Presidency, he does it as coordinator of plans and programs, and earns $ 2,800 a month

The public defender also rejected the prosecution’s arguments that Olson was aware of previous reports of irregularities at the shelter.

When the participation of the parties ended,  the judge rejected the prosecution’s request to impose a precautionary measure of provisional detention on the accused and, instead, imposed precautionary measures to prevent him from leaving the country and to notify him on Friday of each week.

At the end of the hearings, the prosecutor Vásquez explained that Olson is being investigated for having full knowledge of what was happening in the shelters, especially everything related to the availability of placing minors inside the shelter for adults.

The prosecutor detailed that the crime charged, child abuse, can be committed by causing, allowing or even applying negligent treatment.

“In this case, what is being discussed is the presence of minors in centers that did not necessarily receive children and adolescents. That is to say, the act of putting minors at risk, who at the time were sheltered in those places for a long time […] That was not part of the functions that, Olson as guarantor of the Senniaf, had to perform. That is the crime for which he is being charged, ”said Vásquez.

Due to the abuses to which one of the minors transferred to the shelter in Pacora was subjected, a Court of Guarantees issued provisional detention to a 23-year-old man in March.

His is one of the 18 processes followed by the Public Ministry for abuses committed against children and adolescents in shelters that were under the supervision of Senniaf.