Judge dismisses therapist's sex charges involving teen

Jun. 6--A judge has dismissed charges that a former behavioral therapist was facing in alleged sexual contact with a 17-year-old client of the Leffen Center for Autism in Joplin.

Associate Court Judge Joe Hensley had taken under advisement both a defense motion to dismiss the charges on Victoria J.S. West, 29, and evidence presented by the prosecutor's office at a preliminary hearing March 12.

According to the prosecutor's office, Hensley dismissed the two counts of sexual contact with a student on May 29. His order dismissing the charges could not be accessed by the Globe this week because the court case is closed. In response to a Globe request for the order, Prosecutor Theresa Kenney was checking to see if she could release the document but had not gotten back to the newspaper by the end of the day.

West was charged in December with having sexual contact with a male student at the center, which contracts with the Joplin School District to provide educational services to students with special needs. A probable-cause affidavit filed with the charges states that she was employed at the center as a behavioral therapist at the time.

It is legal in Missouri to have consensual sexual contact with someone 17 years old unless they are a student and the person engaging in sexual contact with them is a teacher, a student teacher, an employee of the school they attend, a volunteer or member of an organization working at the school, an elected or appointed official of the school district, or an employee of an entity that contracts with the school or school district.

West's attorney, Stacie Bilyeu, filed a motion to dismiss the day of her client's preliminary hearing, arguing that the statute under which West was charged was constitutionally vague and overly broad. Bilyeu told the court the statute was too arbitrary in the authority it provided local prosecutors in deciding who might be charged under it.

Assistant Prosecutor Taylor Haas argued that the statute was not vague and did not provide prosecutors undue discretion in determining who might be charged.

The teen involved testified at the hearing that he did not consider himself to be a victim and that he believed the prosecution of West was unnecessary. He acknowledged under direct examination by Haas that he first met West while attending the center as a student and that their relationship soon progressed to an exchange of phone numbers and meetups outside the school setting.

He further testified that she touched him in a sexual manner and committed sexual acts with him on two occasions before their relationship ended.

On cross-examination by Bilyeu, the teen acknowledged that his contacts with West were not his first sexual encounters and that she had no authority over him as a student at the center and had not used any such authority to seduce him. She also never asked him to keep the matter quiet and not tell anyone about their relationship, he told the court.

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