December 30, 2004

Clinical therapist accused of having sex with girl, 16

PHOENIX (AZ)
Arizona Daily Star

By Becky Pallack and Sarah Garrecht Gassen
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

A North Side clinical therapist and charter school director is in jail, charged with having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old patient since August.

Richard E. Giberti, 42, was arrested Tuesday night and charged with two counts of sexual conduct with a minor, said Deputy Dawn Barkman, a spokeswoman for the Pima County Sheriff's Department. He is in jail in lieu of $250,000 bond.

He can no longer work at a school, including TLC Charter School, which he opened in 2001.

The victim's mother reported Giberti to deputies after she discovered sexually explicit e-mails between Giberti and her daughter Tuesday morning, Barkman said.

The teen told her mother she was having a sexual relationship with Giberti, who had been her therapist since August. The Sheriff's Department would not reveal the specific type of counseling Giberti was providing the teen. ...

Before he became a therapist, Giberti had careers as a pastor and businessman, according to a résumé posted online on the TLC Charter Schools Web site.

He was a pastor of the Shining Light Assembly, a church in Maine, from 1990 to 1996. He provided therapy, including a weekly adolescent support group, at the church.

Posted by kshaw at December 30, 2004 07:38 AM