CRESTVIEW, Fla. — A woman has been charged with child abuse after an incident at a youth crisis center in Crestview, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.
Elyssa Alves, 33, arrived at Hope House on Eastland Street to pick up a boy who had been involved in a battery. Sheriff’s investigators said surveillance video showed Alves putting the child in a headlock, grabbing his hair and forcing his head into the door of the facility. The boy was later seen with a bruise on his head. When interviewed, the boy denied Alves had struck him, while Alves acknowledged holding his head but said she was unsure what else happened.
Hope House, run by Lutheran Services Florida, helps adolescents stay out of the juvenile justice system through prevention and intervention programs.