Troubled youth needs help

Dear Diane: I was in an awkward position at work, and I’d like to share it with you and your readers.

I am a counselor at a religious youth center. Two other counselors I work with are “Bill” and “Alice,” who have been married for 17 years. A few days ago, Alice asked me to find something for her that I had found on the Internet last week. I’d forgotten to bookmark the site, so I checked my browser’s history.

Well, Alice and I were shocked to see that someone had been searching for Web sites and naughty pictures of one of the teen-age girls in our youth group. This girl has a reputation for being “a wild child,” and there have been rumors that nude pictures of her are on the Internet.

You can see what’s coming.

Yes, it turns out the person searching for these alleged pictures was Alice’s husband, Bill. Bill claims he was “researching” the validity of the rumors. Alice isn’t buying it. Bill has his own computer. There was no reason to use mine, except to avoid having his search history discovered on his own computer.

Now Alice thinks Bill is into kiddie porn, and Bill has been suspended as a counselor. Their life is a wreck because I allowed Alice to look over my shoulder.

Please Diane, tell your readers to never let anyone have access to their computers, and for goodness sakes, NEVER let anyone look over their shoulder. Because of my mistake, a marriage is on the rocks and two of my best friends aren’t speaking to me.

— Indiscreet in Indiana

Dear Indiana: Get over it. This is NOT your fault! Bill is at fault for using YOUR computer to look for teen porn — and have YOU take the blame should a supervisor discover the search history. Bill is a cad of the highest order. You are blameless here. Don’t let Alice or Bill dump it on you.