CINCINNATI (AP) — A man ordered to stay on top of his daughter’s education months ago is in a Cincinnati-area jail because the daughter didn’t get her high school equivalency diploma. The daughter — now 18 — says her father shouldn’t be punished for her behavior.
Judge David Niehaus of Butler County Juvenile Court sentenced Brian Gegner, of Fairfield, last Wednesday to 180 days in jail for contributing to the unruliness or delinquency of a minor. He was ordered months ago to make sure his daughter
Brittany Gegner, who has a history of truancy, received her GED, but she has not yet obtained the diploma.
Brittany Gegner said Monday that she is studying and plans to take a required test this month after failing an earlier pre-test in math. She said her father shouldn’t be blamed because she lived with her mother when she was truant from classes even though her father had custody.
“It was my wrongdoing, not his,” said Brittany Gegner, who is living with her fiancee and 18-month-old daughter at her mother’s home in nearby Hamilton. “He shouldn’t have to go to jail for something I did.”
Her mother agrees.
“Brittany is almost 19 years old now and I think it’s unfair to put her father in jail,” said Shana Roach. “She’s an adult now, and it’s not right to rip an innocent man from his home.”
Court administrator Rob Clevenger Jr. said Monday that the court still has jurisdiction in the case because Brittany Gegner was a juvenile when the truancy problems began and when the charge against Brian Gegner was filed in 2007.
Brian Gegner’s wife, Stephanie Gegner, said she and her husband are afraid he will lose his job if he remains in jail. She said they tried to keep his daughter in school.
“You’d take her to school and she’d go out the other door,” Stephanie Gegner said.
She said that when her stepdaughter got pregnant, she wanted to live with her mother.
“We thought that might help her, but we had no control over her after she turned 18,” said Stephanie Gegner.
Brittany Gegner said she didn’t realize that her father could end up in jail and wishes she hadn’t skipped school.
She attributed her truancy to feeling ill from medications she took for stress and to her later pregnancy.
“I was rebellious,” she said. “I didn’t understand how important education was before, and I never imagined my dad would be put in jail.”
A hearing on a motion filed by Brian Gegner’s attorney to reconsider the sentence is scheduled for Friday. Messages seeking comment were left Monday at the offices of defense attorney Tamara Sack and the Butler County prosecutor.
7-day Archive
