2 charged with assaulting special-needs youths at N.J. center

Two employees of a Haddonfield nonprofit that cares for children with developmental and other disabilities assaulted two teenagers with special needs this month, and detectives are trying to determine whether there are more victims, authorities said Thursday.

Nastassia Hines, 28, of Burlington City, and Mondja Djamba, 28, of Clementon, have been charged with aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child in the Dec. 8 incidents at Bancroft.

Hines and Djamba hit a 14-year-old boy with a belt in the early morning, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office said. Djamba also held the boy under a desk, the Prosecutor's Office said.

After that assault, Djamba forced a 19-year-old man under a desk and held him there, authorities said. Surveillance video recorded the assaults, and a nurse at the school alerted authorities after discovering the injuries sustained by one of the victims, the Prosecutor's Office said.

Hines and Djamba were arrested Wednesday and taken to the Camden County Jail. Bail was set for Hines at $325,000 and for Djamba at $350,000.

Lori Shaffer, a spokeswoman for Bancroft, said Hines and Djamba had been terminated.

"We have a zero-tolerance policy toward any action that would endanger or purposefully injure an individual served at Bancroft," Shaffer said. "Our primary concern is always for the well-being and safety of those we serve."

The Prosecutor's Office said it was trying to determine whether there were additional victims.

Anyone with information may call Camden County Prosecutor's Office Detective Laura Sarnese at 856-225-8522.

Bancroft, founded in Haddonfield in 1883 to educate children with developmental disabilities, aids more than 1,700 children and adults in the Philadelphia region, Shaffer said.

mboren@phillynews.com

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