NORFOLK, Va. (WVEC) — The man charged in the child abuse death of a 2-year-old in Norfolk has a lengthy history with the court system. John Tucker Hardee served time in prison and was on probation in a prior child abuse case involving his own son.
Court documents we've uncovered raise questions about how probation officers were making sure Hardee was not a danger to another child.
He is now accused of scalding his girlfriend's daughter. Her injuries were so bad, her skin started to peel off.
The more the people who loved Harley Rae Williams learn about what happened to the toddler, the more they wonder how this could have happened.
“It's just sad,” Cheytoria Good, who works at Harley’s former-daycare said. “It's unfortunate.”
Testimony revealed in April the child was scalded on almost half of her small body. Investigators alleged Harley's mother, Shelby Love, and her boyfriend, John Hardee, did not get the little girl medical care for 11 hours. Prosecutors said she could have survived if she had been treated earlier.
“It's a lot,” Good added. “It's a lot because she had her whole life ahead of her and it all could have been prevented. That's the thing that hurts the most because she could've still been here.”
The Commonwealth's Attorney’s office also revealed Hardee should never have been living in a home with the little girl.
13News Now reported Hardee served time in prison for beating his own son and strangling his then-girlfriend in 2013.
A "major violation report" shows that shortly after he got out, his probation officer checked on him. Hardee was not living at the approved address and was staying in a home where three children also lived, which is something the probation office forbid.
Instead of sending Hardee back to prison for the violation, in May of 2016 a judge re-affirmed his probation through at least 2029.
We asked the Department of Corrections if probation officers were keeping a closer eye on Hardee, given he lied in the past. Did they know he was living in a home with little Harley? A spokeswoman would not answer our questions.
We also sent a Freedom of Information Act request for all of Hardee's probation records, including the conditions he was under in April of this year, when he allegedly killed Harley Rae.
The DOC FOIA officer responded, "We have approximately 100 pages of probation records responsive to your request. However, they are exempt from mandatory disclosure."
FOIA email request by 13News Now on Scribd
Virginia law allows the agency to exempt this kind of information, but it also gives the discretion to release it. We asked for the records "in the interest of a deeper public understanding of the system,” so those trying to cope with Harley's death could know what happened. DOC is choosing to keep that secret.
“That's all we want to know: Why? How?” daycare worker Aleia Callinan lamented.
We wanted to ask Hardee about these issues, but he declined our jailhouse interview request. Shelby Love also did not want to speak to us.