But help was not on Duarte’s agenda. After plying the girl with marijuana, 45-year-old Duarte was soon allegedly taking photos of the teen, sending them to a “Pablo.” The girl was willing, said Duarte (she wasn’t) and, yes, she was 21 (another lie).
What followed was, according to reports, a 24-hour unrelenting nightmare of sex, violence and degradation perpetrated by Duarte, Duarte’s boyfriend and “Pablo.”
The moral is clear: Do not trust your child with a psychiatrist or psychologist, in therapy or on the street. Mental health watchdog Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) reports that up to 10 percent of psychiatrists and psychologists sexually abuse their patients, including children as young as three years old.
A person seeking help is already fragile, likely suffering from self-doubt. The empathetic look, the reassuring word, the kind hand on the shoulder—all these are like water in the desert to such a vulnerable individual. The guard goes down, trust comes up and “treatment” commences. Then, in this case as in many others, horror ensues.
The psychologist, who supplements her day job by exchanging sex to support her drug habit, broke into tears at her hearing.
According to CCHR, the chances of sexual violence happening at the hands of a psychiatrist are 37 times greater than rapes occurring in the general community. And if anything could make that statistic worse, more than half of male therapists who have abused their patients have made a habit of it, according to several surveys.
And what happens to the victims? A national study of 958 sexual abuse victims at the hands of “mental health professionals” indicated that 90 percent were harmed and, of those, only 17 percent were able to move on.
14 percent attempted suicide.
And sex abuse of minors is on the rise—whether in state-run or private psychiatric residential centers.
Both Duarte and her boyfriend were arrested and charged with human trafficking and lewd and lascivious battery in connection with their abuse and degradation of the young girl. Both were denied bond.
The psychologist, who supplements her day job by exchanging sex to support her drug habit, broke into tears at her hearing. “I’m a psychologist,” she sobbed. “I’m a PhD, I will lose my license and my life.”
Judge Mindy Glazer was unmoved, commenting on the woman’s lack of remorse. “The facts alleged in here are terrible facts,” she said, pointing out that Duarte was panicking about her job “but you had no problem with the facts alleged in here. It’s pretty awful.”
Awful doesn’t begin to describe it.
