Foster mother speaks out after Niles teen's arrest

May 13, 2011|By Colleen Ferreira (cferreira@wsbt.com), Click here to follow Colleen on Twitter | By Colleen Ferreira (cferreira@wsbt.com), Click here to follow Colleen on Twitter

NILES — WSBT sat down with Willa Collins on Friday. She is the foster mother of Martise Washington, one of the five Niles teens arrested after a 17-year-old victim told police she was forced to perform multiple sex acts in order to stop a sex video from appearing on Facebook.

Martise has been living with Collins for two years. She said she and Martise had their moments of disagreement, but she never expected these allegations.

On Thursday morning at 8, Collins received this voicemail from Niles High School.

“This is just a courtesy call to let you know that Martise was arrested this morning at the high school...probably about 10 minutes ago," said a school receptionist.

A half hour later at 8:30, Collins received another next message.

"Hi Ms. Collins, this is Martise. They got me at the police station for that stuff that happened a while ago, so talk to you later," Washington said on the voicemail.

Before his arrest on Thursday, Martise Washington was on probation. We don't know the details of his record, but Collins thought the phone call was related to a previous incident.

She didn't know about the current case until she turned on the news Thursday evening.

"I couldn't sleep last night, so I don't know when it's going to sink in," Collins said.

Collins said Martise was in the juvenile detention center two years ago prior to living with her.

Dealing with an 18-year-old wasn't always easy for Collins, but she says Martise is part of the family.

"He's been here, he's been good," she said.

Collins knows she's not the only one trying to piece together the arrest.

"My heart bleeds for the other parents because I know what they're going through."

For now, she hopes Martise has learned his lesson.

"I would tell him, ‘Don't you wish you had listened? It would have been so easy to do the right thing,’" Collins said.

Now he is left with an uncertain future.

“He's so close to graduation, finishing school, and he's not going to finish school. That's not easy," Collins said.

Collins says Martise had just started on the track team. She said he always had his friends over and she thought they were all a good group of young men.

Some of his friends are the other teens arrested in this case. That is why Collins is so surprised at the allegations.

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