Payton Shires (left) in a Columbus Police Department photo from Oct. 6, (right) in a Franklin County Jail mug shot taken on Oct. 27 after her second arrest.
A Mount Sterling, Ohio, social worker arrested on her 24th birthday earlier in October was thrown back into the Franklin County Jail on Friday after she allegedly went to the home of a 13-year-old she’s accused of sexually abusing and threatened to shoot the boy’s mother and herself, claiming the parent “ruined her life.”
Payton Harleigh Shires, who got her social worker license in the Buckeye State as recently as June 12, 2023 and was employed with the National Youth Advocate Program (NYAP), was reported to the Columbus Police Department in late September on the allegation that she engaged in unlawful sexual conduct and that she admitted as much during a phone call with the boy’s mother as cops listened in.
Shires was initially accused of sexually abusing the boy — someone she was supposed to be a mental health counselor — at least two times in September. According to the Columbus Dispatch, Shires was reported to the Columbus Police Department on Sept. 27 by the boy’s mother, who said she saw messages from the suspect to her son asking if the mother “had seen the videos or messages” or if those videos had been deleted.
When the mother showed her son’s phone to cops, they allegedly found the videos of illicit sexual contact and texts at the center of the main case.
Shires was first booked into the Franklin County Jail on Oct. 6. Franklin County Municipal Court records said was issued a $500,085 bond the next day, a bond that she posted. As a condition of her bond, Shires was barred from having any contact with the alleged victim and any unsupervised contact with minors.
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Given the allegations that Shires showed up Thursday evening at the alleged victim’s home and threatened violence, she was hit with two felony counts of intimidating a crime victim victim/witness by force or threat, her bond was revoked, and a new mug shot was taken.
Authorities alleged that when Shires called the boy’s mother on Thursday and claimed the parent “ruined her life,” the mother saw her on camera sitting on the porch with a gun. Shires allegedly threatened to take her own life.
Court records say an arraignment on the latest charges is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Saturday.
NYAP, the group Shires worked for as a counselor of children, previously told Law&Crime in a statement that she was no longer employed with the organization. The group said it was “saddened by the situation involving one of our former employees and a young person served by our organization,” adding that it is was “collaborating with” both Franklin County Children Services and the Columbus Police Department.
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