COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – A juvenile therapist for Kootenai Health is accused of having a sex with a patient when she was 17 or 18-years-old.
Jeffrey Worley is facing charges of rape and sexual abuse and exploitation of a vulnerable adult. He was arrested Thursday and booked into the Kootenai County Jail. His bond has been set at $100,000. Kootenai Health officials said he has been placed on administrative leave and an investigation is underway.
The victim told investigators that her counselor, Worley, had sex with her “hundreds of times” at his counseling office outside of Kootenai Health around March 2016. She said Worley began to schedule her sessions at the end of the day when all the other employees went home. Court documents said it was around this time he started to incorporate “nap time” into her sessions. She said nap time consisted of her and Worley lying next to each other on the floor in the dark. Worley would spoon the victim for 45 minutes to three hours during the sessions, documents said. The victim said this became a regular occurrence at every session and eventually he stopped billing her parents. Then, he started contacting her on SnapChat.
The victim said after one of her session Worley kissed her on the lips. Court documents said Worley told her it was a “thank you” kiss.
According to court documents, a few weeks after the kiss the victim asked Worley to bring alcohol into a session and he accepted. The victim said she got drunk and during their “nap session” Worley laid on top of her. The woman the asked Worley, “Don’t you have a wife?” and he responded, “Not tonight I don’t,” documents said. According to the victim, she became uncomfortable and went into the bathroom, when she came out he was gone. Then, she started hitting her head against the wall and having auditory hallucinations. Worley appeared and stopped her. She said she eventually drove home drunk.
Court documents said the next day the victim confronted Worley about his behavior. She said he denied it and blamed it on her hallucinations. Their sessions continued after this but did still include “nap time” until October 2016. The victim said at a session in 2016, Worley professed his love for her. She said she knew this meant he wanted to have sex with her and she did too. Court document said they then had sex. The sex continued at every session until May or June 2017.
Then, the victim said Worley made suicidal threats and disappeared for three days. When he came back she had decided to stop having sex with him. By June, the victim said she had stopped talking to him.
After the victim graduated from high school, she move into an apartment. Then one day, she realized Worley moved in almost directly across from her apartment. One day, Worley came over to her apartment and read her an apology note where he apologized for victimizing her.
The victim told investigators she decided to speak up because she realized his behavior was not acceptable and she does not wanted him to victimize other young women.