On January 4, 2023 the Sheriff’s Office was notified by the guardian of a 16 years old male of a possible relationship between him and a counselor at Devereux Behavioral Health in Cobb County.

The guardian advised that the counselor by the name of “Frankye” was coming and picking up the juvenile from his residence and taking him to unknown locations. The guardian of the juvenile expressed her concerns about the relationship and the possibility of the relationship being sexual.

Contact with Devereux Behavioral Health was made and the staff member in question was identified as Ms. Frankye Young-Burton, 51 years of age. It was also discovered that she was employed as a Direct Support Provider at the time of her being in contact with the juvenile.

Devereux advised that they were contacted by the juvenile directly and were informed by him that Frankye and he had been in a relationship since his discharge from their inpatient care back in early September. He also disclosed that Frankye had performed several sexual acts while on a Facetime video call with him.

Devereux initiated their own internal investigation and has assisted the Sheriff’s Office with this incident. They also advised that Frankye is no longer an employee at their facility.

Search warrants were obtained for both Frankye’s and the juveniles cell phones and executed to obtain both phones and the content inside. The results of Frankye’s cell phone extraction are still pending, however the juveniles cell phone extraction was conducted and confirmed a relationship had taken place in the time-frame that was originally reported, and Frankye and the juvenile did physically meet on numerous occasions. Screenshots of the Facetime video calls were taken and stored on the juvenile’s phone and were sexual in nature, as they contained nudity.

After an interview with Frankye on January 27th, 2023, she was placed under arrest and processed at the Carroll County Jail. 

This investigation is still ongoing.