CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM)– A former counselor at a youth services center in Cumberland County is accused of sexually assaulting multiple children and providing them with alcohol while she was employed.
According to the charges filed by State Police in Carlisle, there were multiple reports in February about Jessica Kelley, 43, of Carlisle, working for The Diakon Wilderness Center, having sex with students, allowing them to have sex in the facility, and giving them alcohol.
When Cumberland County CYS tried to call the facility for Kelley they were told that she now worked for the Cumberland/Perry County Domestic Violence shelter, but that there were similar complaints about her from March and April 2022.
Investigators then tried to contact Kelley’s supervisor at the shelter regarding the referrals and say she picked up and impersonated the supervisor to get information about the allegations against her, a criminal complaint states.
During interviews with other staff members at the facility, located at 571 Mountain Rd in Boiling Springs, investigators learned that when Kelley was a counselor, she transported the students from their homes to school.
The students that Kelley worked with were also interviewed and said she had a sexual relationship with some and would even allegedly allow them to have sex in bathrooms at the center. The teens claimed that she even provided them with alcohol and marijuana, the criminal complaint states.
Even though employees were not allowed to use their personal phones to contact students or parents, Kelley had sent multiple inappropriate photos to several teens, according to police.
The criminal complaint also states that when Kelley was interviewed, she confessed to her crimes of inappropriately touching students multiple times and supplying alcohol and vapes. Her phone, which was taken by investigators, allegedly had inappropriate pictures and student information.
Troopers say Kelley claimed that she worked in human services for more than 25 years and that many of her past jobs involved her working with juveniles.
Kelley faces numerous charges, including felony counts of institutional sexual assault of a minor, corruption of minors, identity theft, unlawful contact with a minor, and manufacturing, delivery or possession with intent to manufacture or deliver. She also faces misdemeanor counts of corruption of minors along with summary counts of selling tobacco.
Kelley’s bail was set at $25,000 and she has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Dec. 20.