Author Topic: NH Youth Counselor Faces Child Sexual Assault, Gun Sale, Other Charges  (Read 3149 times)

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Offline Inculcated

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Kirstie Bean of Concord allegedly had relations with a boy at the Sununu Center, gave him and another teen alcohol, tampered with a witness.
By Tony Schinella (Patch Staff) - December 29, 2016 2:18 pm ET

MANCHESTER, NH — A local sociologist who was recently employed as a youth counselor at the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester has been arrested for child rape and other charges, according to a New Hampshire State Police investigation. Kirstie Bean, 25, of Chapel Street in Concord, was arrested on Dec. 1, 2016, for aggravated felonious sexual assault, felonious sexual assault-penetration of a victim 13 to 15, handguns-sale of a pistol to a minor, three counts of endangering the welfare of a child, witness tampering, and hindering apprehension or prosecution.

Editor’s note: This post was derived from information supplied by the Manchester District Court. It does not indicate a conviction. This link explains the name removal request process for NH Patch police reports.

While there is limited information being released about the investigation, according to court documents, a state police detective began looking into allegations that Bean was inappropriately involved with a then-15-year-old boy at the facility earlier this year.

Between early June and late August of this year, she allegedly began touching the boy in a sexual manner while she was a counselor at the center and had “disciplinary authority” over the teen. On April 24, Bean allegedly purchased alcohol for the boy as well as an 18-year-old and provided it to them at an unknown location in Manchester. On Aug. 26, she allegedly let the boy operate a motor vehicle in Manchester.

By October, with an official investigation underway into allegations against her, Bean allegedly “knowingly attempted to induce or otherwise cause” the boy to withhold testimony, documentation, or information, after reportedly calling him at the facility and telling him that he should not be “speaking about their relationship” to anyone, according to court documents.


The court file did not reveal information about the aggravated felonious sexual assault-penetration charge, the gun sale to a minor charge, or hindering apprehension allegation.

On Nov. 30, state police took out a warrant for Bean’s arrest and she was arrested at the facility on River Road at just after 1 p.m. the next day. She was released later on $2,500 cash bail.

Before working for the Sununu Center, according to her LinkedIn profile and other employment information online, Bean was a summer camp counselor at the Pines Community Center, a recreational facility in Northfield, between 2008 and 2014, a substitute teacher at the Keene Day Care Center between 2012 and 2014 while attending college, and a babysitter, before graduating from Winnisquam High School.

On her protected Twitter account, she stated in the caption, “The ones I pity are the ones who never stick out their neck for something they believe, never know the taste of moral struggle, & never the thrill of victory.”

Bean’s attorney appeared on her behalf on Dec. 19, and entered a plea of “not guilty” to the charges, according to court documents. Bean is due back in court for an arraignment on Jan. 9, 2017, in Manchester District Court.

Other charges against Bean

This isn’t Bean’s only run-in with police, according to reports online.

Back on April 25, she was stopped at 12:30 a.m. in Hillsboro by an officer for a motor vehicle violation, according to a report on the department’s website. After a reported consent search of the vehicle, she was arrested on a possession of drugs in a motor vehicle charge. A passenger in the vehicle – Jacob Morrisette, 18, of Hillsboro – was also arrested for possession of drugs.

Problems at the center

The Sununu Youth Services Center is a 144-bed secure detention center that offers institutional services to New Hampshire residents who are 13 to 17 and have previously been involved in criminal activity. It is the state’s only juvenile detention facility and is run by the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. Like other detention facilities as well as prisons, it has strict sexual assault and sexual harassment policies based on federal laws.

A NH DHHS spokesperson stated that Bean was no longer employed at the facility.

According to NHPR, the facility’s population has been declining in recent years, while lawmakers have been analyzing how to best use the facility. In a 2015 report, the radio network noted that only a third of its beds were being used at the time.

Back in mid-October, members of SEIU 1984, the state employee’s union, met with Democrat gubernatorial candidate Colin Van Ostern to discuss the work at the facility, including the challenges facing employees. One nurse, according to a post on the union’s website, stated that the Sununu Center was “not a jail” but “a treatment facility.”

http://patch.com/new-hampshire/concord-nh/nh-youth-counselor-faces-child-sexual-assault-gun-sale-other-charges-court
« Last Edit: January 15, 2017, 11:37:21 PM by Inculcated »
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