Ex-guidance counselor gets 2 years for sex with student

Fisher said he believed Barrett, a 43-year-old Ashburn resident and mother of two, was remorseful. But he said he needed to set an example for the community because she was a guidance counselor.

State sentencing guidelines recommended a minimum of one day and a maximum of three months. Nonetheless, Fisher sentenced Barrett to five years with three suspended for indecent liberties by a custodian. He said people need to be able to trust the staff at schools they send their children to.

“Yours was a position of trust,” Fisher said. “You betrayed that trust.”

The sexual relationship began in the student’s sophomore year in 2013 when the victim was 16, according to a proffer of facts by Anna L.K. Hammond, a Loudoun County deputy commonwealth’s attorney. Barrett gave the boy a hall pass allowing him to get out of class at any time, but wouldn’t allow displays affection for her while at the school.

The relationship included sex in Barrett’s home. The relationship continued until the victim’s freshmen year in college when Barrett ended it. In May of 2021, the victim decided to disclose the relationship to ensure it didn’t happen to other students.

Barrett was hired by Loudoun County Public Schools to work at Freedom High in 2006. In 2017, she transferred to Stone Hill Middle School. She was placed on administrative leave on May 19, 2021, and suspended without pay on Nov. 9, 2021, five days after being arrested. Barrett, who earned $89,000 annually, resigned on Jan. 31 last year.

The school district began investigating Barrett after being notified by the county Sheriff’s Office of the allegations. In an email to parents after Barrett’s arrest, then-Stone Hill Principal Kathryn Clark said Barrett was not accused of any crimes against Stone Hill students.

The victim testified on Thursday that he was a “vulnerable and insecure” when he met Barrett. Reading from a prepared statement, the victim told Barrett that she had controlled and manipulated him. He said she isolated him from his mother and his friends and robbed him of the positive experiences of high school.

In college, the victim said he experienced deep depression which led him to lose 20 pounds, and he suffered academically and socially. He said he underwent therapy to deal with the anger he felt. He called Barrett a predator and he was the prey.

“You held all the power and control to decide what I was allowed to do. You acted like my mother and my lover all wrapped up into one,” he said. “None of what happened was consensual. I was so dependent on you that I would threaten to end my life at the idea of stopping the relationship. You were all I had. When the abuse eventually came to an end, its effects stuck around.”

In seeking a sentence at the low end of the guidelines, defense attorney William “Ben” Mann VI, noted Barrett had no prior criminal record and is a low risk to re-offend. He also noted the victim repeatedly pursued the relationship after turning 18 and threatened to harm himself if Barrett ended it.

“The guidelines are very much appropriate,” Mann said. “She’s somebody who made a mistake and she regrets it.”

Hammond countered that Barrett, who faced up to five years of imprisonment, deserved at least two years given her position.

“She was guidance counselor and a mandated reporter,” Hammond said. “She took advantage of the very vulnerability that she was there to assist him with.”

Upon release, Barrett will be on three years of supervised probation. She must also register as a sex offender for life.