Ex-counselor accused of sex with mental health patient

In December 2023, a Snohomish County Superior Court judge granted Brown’s request to vacate her felony conviction. In January 2024, a judge granted her request vacating her felony record.

EVERETT — A former Compass Health counselor used to meet up with a mental health patient a couple blocks from the shelter where she worked — and he lived — so she could drive him to her house for sex, according prosecutors.

Prosecutors on Monday charged Carli R. Brown, 25, with indecent liberties, a felony. She is accused of having sex with the man, 25, who suffers from mental problems so severe that he reportedly at one point believed he was Adolf Hitler.

Brown provided general support for clients at Haven House, a facility that provides housing, medication, counseling and supervision for mentally ill homeless young adults.*

She was responsible for teaching patients independent living skills, developing and monitoring treatment plans and providing counseling to residents, according to court documents filed Monday in Snohomish County Superior Court.

The patient moved into Haven House in September 2006. He told investigators he was psychotic at the time, viewing himself as Hitler, documents show. He spoke with Brown about his delusions and he also talked to her about the crush he had on another staff member. The man told investigators Brown confessed she had feelings for him about a year later. The two began to exchange letters and discussed a sexual relationship, according to court documents.

Brown eventually gave the man her home address, phone number and change so he could call her from a pay phone.

The pair arranged to meet a couple blocks from the Haven House at the end of September. Brown picked the man up and they drove to the beach and her house, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Cindy Larsen wrote in court records.

The pair engaged in sex and the man stayed overnight at Brown’s house, Larsen wrote. She dropped him off the next day a few blocks away from the shelter. The pair had sex at least three different times. The man also told investigators Brown would sometimes rub up against him while they were at the shelter.

Brown quit working at Haven House in November and stopped seeing the man, according to court records. The man told another counselor at shelter about his relationship with Brown. The allegations were reported to the state Department of Social and Health Services and Everett police.

The man gave police several letters Brown allegedly wrote him. In the letters she talked about having children with him and their sexual relations. One letter indicates that Brown was in training where “they’re preaching ethics as I write this,” court documents said.

Investigators interviewed Brown, who allegedly told police she and the man did have sex and she had written him letters, Larsen wrote.

The state suspended Brown’s counselor’s license in March. A disciplinary board found her actions to be an abuse of “a position of trust and a violation of the patient/practitioner boundaries.”

Brown was hired by Compass Health in 2006. Compass Health is a nonprofit organization that provides mental health services in Snohomish, Island, Skagit and San Juan counties.

Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.

*Correction, May 17, 2008: This article originally misstated the job responsibilities of Compass Health employee Carli R. Brown.

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