Behavioral therapist at autism center charged with sex crime

JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — A behavioral therapist at an autism therapy center in southwest Missouri has been charged with having sexual contact with a 17-year-old student at a park.

Twenty-eight-year-old Victoria West, of Joplin, was charged Friday with two felony counts of sexual contact with a student in November. No attorney is listed for her in online court records.

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Joplin police said in a news release that she worked at the time at the Leffen Center for Autism. Police said the investigation began Dec. 4.

West is being held under house arrest with an ankle monitor, prohibited from contact with any person under 18.

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