Former youth counsellor sentenced to house arrest for sexually assaulting teen

GUELPH – A former youth counsellor has been sentenced to house arrest for sexually assaulting a teenage boy under her supervision at a residential treatment centre in Wellington County.

Jennifer Dean, 25, was charged in April 2025 with sexual assault, sexually touching an underage person and exploiting a young person by touching them sexually.

The charges stemmed from a November 2023 incident while she was working at the centre.

Last week, on Oct. 30, she pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault and was sentenced to house arrest and a year of probation. The remaining two charges of sexual interference and exploitation were dropped.

Court heard Dean worked as a counsellor and case worker at the treatment centre between March 2023 and January 2024, when she was fired.

The Advertiser is not naming the centre to avoid identifying the victim, who cannot be named under a publication ban.

According to an agreed statement of facts, a boy, under 16 at the time, stayed at the centre for drug and mental health treatment from September to December 2023.

In early November of that year, he became upset and went to his bedroom, where Dean attended, rubbed his thigh sexually and offered a hug. They hugged briefly, and the two kept in contact into 2024 after he left the program.

Prosecutor Erica Quayle told court Dean was in a position of trust and authority over the boy.

She had previously been warned about her inappropriate behaviour, court heard, and it wasn’t the only time Dean had been charged due to her conduct with a resident.

She was found guilty in 2024 of assaulting a 16-year-old boy between Oct. 1 and Dec. 19, 2023, after she admitted to kissing and sexual touching with him while he lived at the centre.

But she wasn’t convicted in that case. The judge conditionally discharged Dean, meaning she avoids a conviction if she follows the rules of a three-year probation term.

And a past case only counts against someone who reoffends after the court has dealt with them. Because both of the offences occurred in late 2023, before the outcome of the 2024 case was known, Dean was treated in the eyes of the court last week as a first-time offender.

The Crown and defence jointly recommended Dean be sentenced to house arrest, with six months of confinement at home and GPS monitoring, followed by four months under an 8pm to 7am curfew starting at the end of April, and then a year of probation.

“There’s significant mitigating factors which get us to this sentence, but it’s still very aggravating, which is why it’s still a jail sentence but we’re at the point where it could be served in the community,” said defence lawyer Amy Sweet.

Court heard Dean struggles with mental health issues and now regularly sees a psychotherapist.

“I feel guilty, ashamed and disappointed with myself. I was the adult and I did not act like it,” Dean stated in a pre-sentence report read aloud in court by the defence.
“I betrayed and disregarded all of my personal values. I’m angry with myself and remorseful for my actions.”

In January, Dean gave birth to a daughter, who suffers from medical complications.

Court heard her daughter has given Dean a “new perspective on life.”

“[The victim] was not only a child, but he’s somebody else’s son. I not only broke his trust, but I put hardship on his mom as well,” Sweet said, quoting from the report.

Dean will serve the house arrest term in Rockwood, where she lives with her husband, daughter and parents.

She can leave the home for her daughter’s medical appointments, for four hours on Friday afternoons for necessities, and for her work as a pharmacy sales clerk after returning from maternity leave in the new year.

For 10 years, Dean will be on the sex offender registry, and cannot possess weapons.

She has also been ordered not to have contact with anyone under 16, except her child or incidental to her work, and she cannot be where children under 16 are present, unless supervised by someone 18 or older, or in the company of her own child.

Dean did not address the court when offered the chance.

Justice Matthew Stanley said a traditional jail sentence would deprive Dean’s infant daughter of support.

He added the sentence was low but appropriate, citing Dean’s youth, guilty plea, counselling and mental health, and that the offence was a single incident.