Hanna Boys Center to step up staff training after second child-sex arrest

The head of a Sonoma Valley residential center for troubled boys said Thursday he plans to step up training on personal and professional boundaries after the second employee in six months was arrested on child-sex charges.

Brian Farragher, executive director of the Hanna Boys Center, said he will pursue other safeguards including instruction on how to spot grooming and predatory behavior.

“This latest thing has been a bit of a lightning bolt for us,” said Farragher. “We work with kids who have suffered a lot of hurt. It is soul-crushing anytime there is a sense we may have been involved in further injuring them.”

Last Saturday, sheriff’s deputies arrested the center’s clinical director, Kevin Thorpe, 39, of Rohnert Park after a former youth resident, now 23, came forward with allegations that Thorpe molested him in 2009.

Thorpe remains in jail with bail set at $300,000. He was arraigned Tuesday on three felony counts carrying a maximum 24 years in prison.

He had been hired as a youth counselor 14 years ago, became a licensed counselor and was promoted last fall to clinical director. The position is responsible for supervising staff counselors and interns, and guiding treatment plans for all students.

Thorpe is married with children and runs a youth ministry program as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Sonoma Valley.

Church officials could not be reached.

A criminal investigation is continuing but so far no additional victims have been identified, sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Crum said.

“We think it’s possible there’s going to be others,” he said earlier this week when Thorpe’s arrest was first reported.

Anyone with information is urged to come forward, Crum said.

Farragher said calls have been made to the families of each boy at Hanna to tell them about the allegations and ask them to speak to their children and contact law enforcement if necessary. Alumni also have been contacted and asked to share any pertinent information with law enforcement. And he said the center’s licensing representative has been given contact information for all alumni on Thorpe’s caseload since he was hired.

“It’s not uncommon in these situations that there could be more victims,” Farragher said.

The arrest came after another employee, Angelica Malinski, then 22, was charged in the fall on charges of having unlawful sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old boy at the Arnold Drive center. Malinski’s next court appearance on the misdemeanor charge is July 17.

It followed the filing of a $2.7 million civil lawsuit by Thorpe’s predecessor, Timothy Norman, claiming he was fired after complaining about a lack of supervision over minors involved in bullying.

With the added scrutiny, the 72-year-old nonprofit affiliated with the Catholic Church is redoubling oversight of staff and young residents. It has a capacity for 100 boys and is down to 65 after a recent graduation of 32 boys.

State law has always required criminal background checks for new employees but they will now also receive more training, Farragher said.

Instruction will center on what to look for in both children and adults who could become involved in abusive behavior, he said.

“We will build additional safeguards to make sure there is no repeat of this,” Farragher said.

But in general, the best way to protect children is to do a better job of listening to them, he said.

“That’s daily work we all have to do,” he said. “Our people are reeling but I’m proud of them. They have been available to the kids and are working hard through real pain. It’s been devastating but I think we’re doing the right thing.”