Former youth worker guilty of sexual exploitation for sex with 14-year-old
Beverly Allard was the teen's 31-year-old case worker when the two began having sex
A former youth worker with Alberta Child and Family Services has been found guilty of having a years-long sexual relationship with a teenage boy she met when he was living in a secure residential facility for troubled teens.
Beverly Allard was 31 years old when she began having sex with the 14-year-old boy in 1990. At the time, Allard was the boy's caseworker at the William Roper Hull facility, a secure residential setting in Calgary.
Allard, 65, held her head in her hands as Court of King's Bench Justice Lisa Silver delivered her decision. She appeared to be crying.
Silver will hear sentencing arguments from prosecutor Donna Spaner and defence lawyer Dale Knisely in the coming months.
In her lengthy decision, Silver found Allard was in a position of authority or trust over the victim, whose identity is protected by a publication ban. CBC News has identified him as A.B. — not his real initials — in order to comply with a publication ban.
"[A.B.] was particularly vulnerable," said Silver, pointing out the boy's mother had relinquished care of him to Alberta Child and Family Services. He also had psychiatric and substance abuse issues at the time.
"[Allard] had a measure of control over [A.B.]."
A.B. is now 47 years old. He testified during the trial, which took place last month. He said he'd developed a crush on Allard because she paid him extra attention and was "just happy to have that closeness."
"It's just something I hadn't had since I had a mother," he said in his evidence.
Allard penned 26-page statement to police
Many of the details of the relationship between Allard and A.B. come from a 26-page handwritten statement Allard provided to police in 1998. At the time, she told a detective that A.B. was threatening her with violence and with disclosing their relationship to authorities.
She said she'd had enough and wanted to disclose her story to police.
"I know that what I did was wrong," she wrote.
"I know that I can be held responsible for a criminal offence. I have lived in my own prison for the past six years, and I can't subject myself … to this any longer. This is why I have come forward."
'Mrs. Robinson ego'
Allard wrote that she was "a little flattered," to receive A.B.'s attention back in 1990.
One night that year, A.B. broke out of Hull Homes and showed up at Allard's house. The two tickled each other and wrestled before having sex, she said in her statement.
Defence lawyer Dale Knisely argued Allard's description of the contact depicted Allard as the victim of sexual assault, but the judge disagreed.
"She mused about her 'stupid, selfish Mrs. Robinson ego,'" said Silver. "She provided justifications for what she knew was inappropriate conduct."
The Edmonton police detective who took Allard's statement referred the case to Calgary police, but the file sat dormant for 24 years.
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