2 weeks Ago
CLARK COUNTY, Wash. — Warning: This story contains details that some readers may find disturbing. Opening statements began Tuesday in the trial of Alicia Kaye Stowe, a former counselor at a now-shuttered Daybreak Youth Services facility.
She's charged with first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor for allegedly having a sexual relationship with one of her patients, a boy who was 16 years old when it began. Daybreak operated residential treatment facilities for children with addiction and mental health challenges in Clark County and Spokane. State health officials suspended the licenses of both facilities in May 2023, saying the nonprofit had failed to cooperate with investigations into multiple allegations of staff misconduct and boundary violations with teen patients.
Stowe, 36, was charged in January 2023. Court documents allege that she had a sexual relationship with the patient between May 2020 and March 2022, most likely starting in March 2021. The victim had just turned 16 at the beginning of that time period and had not yet turned 18 at the end of it.
According to an affidavit of probable cause filed in court, police began investigating Stowe in 2022 after her wife reported her interactions with the teen. Police then interviewed the victim, who told them that he and Stowe had sex three times while he was a patient at Daybreak and continued to have sex after he was discharged, meeting up multiple times in Lacey, Wash. The alleged victim took the stand Tuesday morning and said that Stowe, who was 32 at the time, would take walks around the Daybreak facility with him, and he began sending her notes, and their interactions eventually became sexual, with Stowe at one point performing oral sex on him in a bathroom.
He said he continued to text with Stowe after he was discharged and that she drove two hours to Lacey to meet him for sex at a motel. The defense argued that the victim's statements were unreliable because he had told police that meth use had affected his memory and said it will also focus during the trial on the fact that there were cameras throughout the Daybreak facility with staff members assigned to watch them at all times. The trial is expected to last about three days.
The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) suspended Stowe's counselor license in 2024. The suspension was indefinite, but DOH noted that if she is convicted, the suspension term will become 10 years, and she would have to pay a $5,000 fine and complete a psychosexual evaluation before petitioning for reinstatement. Daybreak is separately embroiled in a legal battle stemming from its license suspension.
The state is seeking to recover some of the grant funding previously given to the nonprofit, according to The Columbian , and Daybreak sued the state last year, arguing that it shouldn't have to pay the money back because it was unfairly shut down and thereby prevented from fulfilling the terms of the grant agreements. Resources If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault and need support, help is available. You can contact the Sexual Assault Resource Center, (503) 626-9100.
They are located at 4900 Southwest Griffith Drive, Ste. 135, Beaverton, OR 97005. The Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network (RAINN) National Sexual Assault Hotline can be reached at 800.
656.HOPE (4673) or rainn.org .
It is available 24/7..
