Judge dismisses charges against 2 in 1990s child abuse case

By MARK GILLISPIE
Associated Press

CLEVELAND (AP) — A judge in Ohio has dismissed charges against two people who their attorneys say were falsely accused of sexually abusing children from a Head Start program in the early 1990s. Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Chris Cook dismissed charges Friday against 64-year-old Nancy Smith and 68-year-old Joseph Allen. The Lorain County prosecutor agreed the charges should be dismissed after a review by his office fund no credible evidence they were guilty. The case against Smith and Allen began in 1993 when a parent told Lorain police Smith had driven children on a Head Start bus to a home where she and a man sexually abused them.