A former counselor at Daybreak Youth Services is accused of engaging in a sexual relationship with a then-16-year-old boy who was a patient at the Brush Prairie facility.
Alicia Kaye Stowe, 34, of Vancouver was arraigned last month in Clark County Superior Court. She entered a not-guilty plea to first-degree sexual misconduct with a minor. Stowe, who is on supervised release, had previously appeared in court on a summons, court records show. Her trial is scheduled for May 15.
Daybreak CEO Tom Russell said Friday that Stowe was terminated for performance issues prior to law enforcement reaching out about the criminal investigation.
According to the Washington Department of Health, Stowe is registered as an agency affiliated counselor; her credential is active and was last renewed in January. The National Provider Identifier shows Stowe now works as a peer specialist for Lifeline Connections Crisis Wellness Center in Vancouver. Efforts to confirm Stowe’s employment status with Lifeline Connections were unsuccessful Friday afternoon.
According to an affidavit of probable cause, Stowe’s spouse told a Clark County sheriff’s detective in February 2022 that Stowe had engaged in a sexual relationship with a patient at Daybreak Youth Services, 11910 N.E. 154th St. She said Stowe and the patient had corresponded several times, and she believed they met for a sexual encounter at a hotel in Lacey.
The teen provided a statement to the detective in March 2022. He said he and Stowe had sex “one or a couple of times.” He said their first sexual encounter occurred when he was receiving inpatient therapy. They went to an empty wing of the facility, he said, and Stowe performed oral sex on him, the affidavit states.
He said he consented, but he “knew ‘people like that can’t do that kind of thing’ indicating he knew that counselors can’t have sexual contact with people they are supervising,” the affidavit reads.
He was unsure of the exact dates of the sexual encounters, he said, but believed they were in March 2021, according to the affidavit.
When contacted by investigators, Stowe said she had regular contact with the teen while she was a counselor, but she did not see him outside the facility. She subsequently said she wanted to consult an attorney and declined to provide a further statement, the affidavit states.
