Theriault to serve one year, assault charges dismissed (Printed March 9, 2007)
Posted by Sentry Editor at 3/15/2007 12:09 PM 
Categories: So Po News, Ward Peck, Public Safety, County News
Categories: So Po News, Ward Peck, Public Safety, County News
By Ward Peck
Editor
Angela Theriault, a former employee at the Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland accused of having a sexual relationship with an incarcerated youth will serve one year in jail as part of a plea agreement.
The deal was approved as the trial was set to begin on March 1. Under the terms of the deal, Theriault pleaded guilty to a single count of violating bail conditions for having contact with the alleged victim after being instructed to have no such contact as a condition of her release on bail. In return for the guilty plea, the Cumberland County District Attorney’s office agreed to dismiss the four counts of gross sexual assault in the original indictment. Those charges stemmed from four encounters alleged to have occurred in late 2005 with a then 17-year-old boy being held in a low security unit of the youth detention facility. Theriault was 25 at the time.
Joanna Morrissey, a spokesperson for the Cumberland County District Attorney’s office, said the prosecutor agreed to a plea because the alleged victim was reluctant to testify and without his testimony, the case could not be proven.
Because the assault charges were dismissed, Theriault will not be listed on the Maine sex offender registry. Theriault has said her main goal was to stay off the registry. According to Theriault’s attorney Joseph Goodman of Portland, the parties had made a number of attempts to settle the case with a plea deal. Goodman said in previous negotiations the District Attorney’s office was insistent Theriault plead to the assault charges. Asked why he thought the prosecution team relented, Goodman said he thought, “they had problems with the merits of their case.”
“There never was any quid-pro-quo,” Goodman said.
Goodman said it would be difficult to get a conviction without an allegation that the victim would suffer retaliation if he did not participate in the alleged acts, although he acknowledged if the gender roles were reversed, it might have been easier for the prosecution to secure a conviction.
The sentence for her guilty plea requires Theriault to serve one year of a four-year sentence and a two-year probation period. During that probation period, Theriault is forbidden to contact any current or former resident or employee of the Long Creek facility.
If Theriault violates the conditions of her probation, she risks serving all or part of the three year suspended sentence, Morrissey said.
“The other three years will be over her head,” Morrissey said.
Morrissey said the violation of bail conditions for which Theriault was convicted only recently came to light. Theriault was released on bail on Feb. 21, 2006 and the subsequent contact was found to have taken place on March 19, 2006. The charge was not included in court documents until Feb. 27, 2007– two days before a judge approved the deal.
Morrissey would not elaborate on how the contact was discovered.
Goodman said the prosecution discovered the contact when they interviewed the victim in preparation for the trial.
Goodman said the contact apparently occurred during a party marking the victim’s release from the detention facility.
The original case was initiated following a telephone complaint on Nov. 29, 2005 by the alleged victim’s father regarding money taken from his home and a possible “love affair” between his son and an employee of the detention facility while the son was on work release.
The father also produced a letter, purported to be from Theriault, containing graphic statements of a sexual nature.
During an interview with Long Creek investigator Michael Curry, the boy admitted to encounters with Theriault while he was working at Verillo’s restaurant in Portland on work release.
The boy described four occasions Theriault parked her vehicle behind the restaurant and the boy would get inside. On two such occasions the boy described the encounters as talking and kissing and on the two other occasions they engaged in several sex acts.
In April of 2005, Theriault was the subject of a different investigation based upon rumors circulating the facility that Theriault had an ongoing relationship involving sexual contact with a different youth. Most of those allegations were never substantiated, except for evidence of a telephone conversation between Theriault and the resident.
Editor
Angela Theriault, a former employee at the Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland accused of having a sexual relationship with an incarcerated youth will serve one year in jail as part of a plea agreement.
The deal was approved as the trial was set to begin on March 1. Under the terms of the deal, Theriault pleaded guilty to a single count of violating bail conditions for having contact with the alleged victim after being instructed to have no such contact as a condition of her release on bail. In return for the guilty plea, the Cumberland County District Attorney’s office agreed to dismiss the four counts of gross sexual assault in the original indictment. Those charges stemmed from four encounters alleged to have occurred in late 2005 with a then 17-year-old boy being held in a low security unit of the youth detention facility. Theriault was 25 at the time.
Joanna Morrissey, a spokesperson for the Cumberland County District Attorney’s office, said the prosecutor agreed to a plea because the alleged victim was reluctant to testify and without his testimony, the case could not be proven.
Because the assault charges were dismissed, Theriault will not be listed on the Maine sex offender registry. Theriault has said her main goal was to stay off the registry. According to Theriault’s attorney Joseph Goodman of Portland, the parties had made a number of attempts to settle the case with a plea deal. Goodman said in previous negotiations the District Attorney’s office was insistent Theriault plead to the assault charges. Asked why he thought the prosecution team relented, Goodman said he thought, “they had problems with the merits of their case.”
“There never was any quid-pro-quo,” Goodman said.
Goodman said it would be difficult to get a conviction without an allegation that the victim would suffer retaliation if he did not participate in the alleged acts, although he acknowledged if the gender roles were reversed, it might have been easier for the prosecution to secure a conviction.
The sentence for her guilty plea requires Theriault to serve one year of a four-year sentence and a two-year probation period. During that probation period, Theriault is forbidden to contact any current or former resident or employee of the Long Creek facility.
If Theriault violates the conditions of her probation, she risks serving all or part of the three year suspended sentence, Morrissey said.
“The other three years will be over her head,” Morrissey said.
Morrissey said the violation of bail conditions for which Theriault was convicted only recently came to light. Theriault was released on bail on Feb. 21, 2006 and the subsequent contact was found to have taken place on March 19, 2006. The charge was not included in court documents until Feb. 27, 2007– two days before a judge approved the deal.
Morrissey would not elaborate on how the contact was discovered.
Goodman said the prosecution discovered the contact when they interviewed the victim in preparation for the trial.
Goodman said the contact apparently occurred during a party marking the victim’s release from the detention facility.
The original case was initiated following a telephone complaint on Nov. 29, 2005 by the alleged victim’s father regarding money taken from his home and a possible “love affair” between his son and an employee of the detention facility while the son was on work release.
The father also produced a letter, purported to be from Theriault, containing graphic statements of a sexual nature.
During an interview with Long Creek investigator Michael Curry, the boy admitted to encounters with Theriault while he was working at Verillo’s restaurant in Portland on work release.
The boy described four occasions Theriault parked her vehicle behind the restaurant and the boy would get inside. On two such occasions the boy described the encounters as talking and kissing and on the two other occasions they engaged in several sex acts.
In April of 2005, Theriault was the subject of a different investigation based upon rumors circulating the facility that Theriault had an ongoing relationship involving sexual contact with a different youth. Most of those allegations were never substantiated, except for evidence of a telephone conversation between Theriault and the resident.
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