Depelchin Center executives met with Richmond Police Chief Bill Whitworth on Wednesday to lean more about police concerns with the organization’s Richmond residential treatment facility, where a 13-year-old girl committed suicide last week.

Whitworth met with Robert Hartman, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Depelchin, and with the Richmond facility’s local administrator. The men asked for the meeting as a result of publicity over the girl’s death.

“It was a step in the right direction,” Whitworth said. “They never admitted they were doing anything wrong, but they indicated they are going to re-evaluate their processes now that we’ve shown a concern.”

FortBendNow reported last week that the girl, who apparently hanged herself April 4, had been a victim of an assault at the Richmond center in February. She also had run away from the center - at 710 South 7th St. - in February and again the week prior to her death.

In addition to the suicide, reports show that between January and April 7, the Richmond Police Department responded to two attempted suicides, seven runaways, five instances of criminal mischief and seven assaults at Depelchin’s Richmond center.

The facility is a residential treatment center Depelchin runs on behalf of Texas Child Protective Services.

Whitworth said he understands Depelchin’s position as a business “looking for a profit,” but “I’m wondering if the state licensing supervisors are doing their job” in overseeing facilities contracting with Texas CPS.

He said the state supervisor in charge of licensing residential treatment centers in Texas has called about setting up a meeting, but a date hasn’t been set.

As for the 13-year-old suicide victim, Whitworth noted she had obviously been in trouble at the center before her death, “and nothing much happened about it.”

“Depelchin said they had no other alternatives for her” and that the Richmond facility is the most restrictive center they operate, Whitworth said. “But CPS should have been aware of it, and put her someplace else.”