Foster Mother Faces Charge Of Teen Rape Counselor Undergoing Psychiatric Treatment

A counselor at a North Idaho home for troubled youths is suspected of raping a teenage resident during a four-day sex spree that began at her Spokane Valley home and ended in a Seattle motel.

Shelly Varnell, 31, faces a charge of third-degree rape of a child. She has worked at the Anchor House in Coeur d’Alene for two years and is undergoing psychiatric evaluations at a local hospital, deputies said. She has not been arrested.

Varnell told Spokane County sheriff’s deputies the affair was consensual, beginning June 1 when she and her husband became the 15-year-old boy’s temporary foster parents. State law, however, says youths under 16 cannot legally agree to sex with an adult.

“We have done a lot of soul-searching over this, wondering if there was anything we could have seen or done differently,” said Mike Jones, president of the Idaho Youth Ranch, a private facility that oversees the Anchor House. “But there was nothing to indicate we had to be concerned (about Varnell). We were very careful.”

Jones said Varnell and her husband, Rick, recently decided they wanted to become foster parents and applied for a license through the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

They went through interviews and extensive background checks, officials said, and received permission last month to accept a foster child for a nine-day trial visit.

The 15-year-old from Anchor House, whom Varnell once counseled, was placed at the couple’s home on North Linden on May 31.

The next morning, Varnell and the boy had sex while Rick Varnell was sleeping, according to sheriff’s reports.

A few hours later, Varnell called the boy’s school and told a secretary he was sick. When Rick Varnell left for work, his wife and the teenager had sex again, the reports said.

The two then drove to the Super 8 Motel on Argonne Road and had sex, the boy told deputies. The next day, they drove to Seattle and continued the affair in two more motel rooms, he said.

While they were gone, the teenager missed a court appearance in Kootenai County for a misdemeanor charge. Varnell was supposed to take him there June 2.

When they didn’t show up, officials at Anchor House became worried and called Varnell’s husband.

“He was worried and didn’t have any idea where they were,” sheriff’s Lt. David Wiyrick said.

Rick Varnell suspected the teenager harmed his wife, deputies said. Efforts to reach him for comment Thursday were unsuccessful.

On June 4, from Seattle, Varnell called her parents and told them about the affair, court records said. She flew back to Spokane with the boy, who was taken to Anchor House by Varnell’s attorney, Peter Erbland of Coeur d’Alene.

The teen quickly told authorities he had sex with Varnell, and sheriff’s deputies were called.

“We are just appalled that someone would betray a trust like this,” Jones said, adding that in the past employees have become successful foster parents to several Anchor House youths. “It’s shocking to our staff because they feel betrayed too.”

Deputies said they are waiting to arrest Varnell until her hospital stay is over. A District Court commissioner who signed the arrest warrant this week agreed not to make Varnell spend any time in jail when she is arrested, records show.

Jones wouldn’t say how long the victim has been at Anchor House and refused to discuss why he was there. He did say, however, that the boy appears to be doing well.

“We, as adults, are more upset about this than he is,” Jones said.

“This whole thing really just came out of the blue. We had no warning signs. Shelly always did a fine job and was good with the kids.”

Michelle Britton, regional director for the Coeur d’Alene Department of Health and Welfare, said trial placement is a common step in the foster home process because it allows both parties to see if the match is a good one. She refused to discuss the Varnell case.

“What we can conclude from it, though, is that foster care has risks,” Britton said.

, DataTimes