Former youth worker guilty of sexual exploitation for sex with 14-year-old

A former youth worker with Alberta Child and Family Services has been found guilty of having a years-long sexual relationship with a teenager she met while he was living in a closed residential facility for youth with behavioural problems.

Beverly Allard was 31 years old when she began having sex with the 14-year-old boy in 1990. At the time, Allard was the boy’s social worker at William Roper Hull, a gated residential facility in Calgary.

Allard, 65, held her head in her hands as Judge Lisa Silver of the Court of King’s Bench delivered her verdict. She appeared to be crying.

Silver will hear sentencing arguments from prosecutor Donna Spaner and defense attorney Dale Knisely in the coming months.

In her lengthy ruling, Silver found that Allard held a position of authority or trust over the victim, whose identity is protected by a publication ban. CBC News has identified him as AB – not by his real initials – to comply with a publication ban.

“(AB) was particularly vulnerable,” Silver said, noting that the boy’s mother had left his care with Alberta Child and Family Services. He also had mental health issues and substance abuse at the time.

“(Allard) had a certain degree of control over (AB).”

AB, now 47, testified during the trial, which took place last month, saying he had a crush on Allard because she paid him special attention and he was “just happy to have that closeness.”

“It’s just something I haven’t had since I had a mother,” he said in his statement.

Allard wrote a 26-page statement to the police

Many details about the relationship between Allard and AB come from a 26-page handwritten statement Allard gave to police in 1998. At the time, she told a detective that AB threatened her with violence and disclosure of their relationship to authorities.

She said she had had enough and wanted to tell the police her story.

“I know what I did was wrong,” she wrote.

“I know I can be held accountable for a crime. I have lived in my own prison for the last six years and I cannot subject myself to this any longer. That is why I came forward.”

“Mrs Robinson’s Ego”

Allard wrote that she was “a little flattered” to receive AB’s attention in 1990.

One night that year, AB escaped from Hull Homes and showed up at Allard’s home. The two tickled each other and wrestled before having sex, she said in her testimony.

Defense attorney Dale Knisely argued that Allard’s description of the contact portrayed Allard as a victim of sexual assault, but the judge disagreed.

“She ruminated on her ‘stupid, selfish Mrs. Robinson ego,'” Silver said. “She provided justifications for behavior that she knew was inappropriate.”

The Edmonton Police Detective who took Allard’s statement referred the case to Calgary Police, but the file remained unfound for 24 years.