IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A psychologist in charge of treating Iowa’s most dangerous sex offenders violated policies by developing an improperly close relationship with a violent predator who became obsessed with her.
A termination letter obtained by The Associated Press alleges that Shannon Sanders committed “boundary violations” with a patient in her care. Sanders is the treatment director at the Civil Commitment Unit for Sex Offenders in Cherokee.
The letter alleges that she shared secrets with the patient, didn’t apply the program rules to him, and failed to report that he was having personal feelings for her.
Those actions created potential security problems for the institution, which houses sexually violent predators who have been ordered by the courts to be locked up for treatment following their prison terms.
