Police: Juvenile center mentor groomed 15-year-old for sexual relationship

Police: Juvenile center mentor groomed 15-year-old for sexual relationship

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WEST VALLEY CITY — Police are investigating an alleged sexual relationship between a 15-year-old girl and a woman who was assigned to mentor her in the Salt Lake Valley Detention Center.

As of Thursday, the 22-year-old woman had not been arrested or charged.

In May, police started an investigation involving a 15-year-old girl who had been placed in the 3rd District Juvenile Court's Village Project.

The project is a mentor program that uses community volunteers who are willing to work with troubled youths, according to the Utah State Courts website. Mentors and youth offenders are matched up based on common interests and location.

The teen was assigned a mentor employed by Salt Lake Valley Detention, according to a search warrant affidavit. Investigators say the two developed a relationship.

"During this time Salt Lake Valley Detention Center had documented concerns of an inappropriate relationship between (the adult mentor) and (the teen), which came from a third party. Salt Lake Valley Detention ended the relationship and advised (the mentor) not to continue communication," the affidavit states.

Yet after the teen was released from the detention center in January, the same woman was again assigned as the girl's mentor by the Village Project, according to the warrant.

A third party later discovered nude pictures of the mentor and the teenager on the teen's cellphone, the affidavit states. The girl's stepfather was notified of the photos and called police. He later discovered two of his stepdaughter's journals and turned them over to detectives.

Investigators wrote that the journals described "grooming behaviors" by the woman and that the teenager "continues to write passages about their sexual activity together."

During an interview in June, the woman admitted to sexual activity, the exchange of nude photos and knowing the girl was 15, according to the affidavit.

West Valley police this week confirmed they are investigating the case, but declined comment, saying it has been turned over to the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office for possible charges.

Utah State Court administrators issued a brief statement Thursday saying the mentor has been suspended from the program pending the outcome of the investigation.

According to the state court website, mentors for the Village Project are volunteers who are at least 21 years old and "must be willing to attend an initial interview and pass a criminal record check.

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Pat Reavy

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