By Adam Ghassemi
CENTURY, FLORIDA - An organization that claims to help troubled teens in Northwest Florida loses a counselor who, investigators say, went too far.
Outward Bound Discovery claims it teaches troubled young adults how to reach their full potential, but an assistant instructor at its Century, Florida location is now in custody, accused of doing much more.
Authorities say last month they learned 31-year old Chiara R. Taylor was allowing a runaway 17-year old former student to stay at her home. Due to the warrant delays and the holiday season Taylor wasn't taken into custody until Friday.
"How the relationship started I don't know. What the relationship consisted of we don't know. They only thing we do know is that we received information that the child was going to be there," said Sgt. Mike Ward with the Escambia Co. Sheriff's Office.
After learning the boy may be living with her, authorities say when questioned Taylor repeatedly refused the search of her home, which is in a FEMA trailer park. After being denied access and returning to the home with a supervisor, deputies say they noticed a missing window screen that was there earlier. "Of course we thought the juvenile had jumped out the window and ran off," said Ward.
A K9 unit found the boy hiding out in a nearby wooded area. Authorities say he's now at home in Marianna, Florida with his mother, who first called Outward Bound to report what was going on. The company says that's when they called authorities.
"Once we went there just to make contact just so we could tell the mother, 'Hey, went by and checked it out turned out that the child was actually there'," Ward added.
While the details of their relationship are still unknown, Taylor faces a long list of charges for allegedly lying about exactly where the boy was staying.
Outward Bound Discovery Officials tell Fox10 when they learned of Taylor's involvement with the former student, they terminated her immediately.
http://www.fox10tv.com/global/story.asp?s=5899262