Job Coach, Huh?

Sometimes I read my email with little reaction to alerts I get from Google. Not so today. In Glenwood Springs, Colorado there is a man who is called a job coach; a person who's job is to assist a person with a disability in accomplishing whatever tasks their employer needs done. Well, this fellow took things significantly further than that over the 11 years of working with the woman in this story. From the Glenwood Springs Post Independent...

Glenwood Man Accused of Sexual Assault

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado — Police arrested a man last Wednesday accused of sexually assaulting a developmentally disabled woman for whom he was a “job coach.”

James Garland, 66, of Glenwood Springs, was arrested on suspicion of one count of crimes against at-risk adults — sexual assault, a class two felony. A court document says more counts “will likely be charged.”

The allegations came to light when a Wal-Mart employee told the Glenwood Springs police that another female Wal-Mart employee who was “developmentally disabled to some degree” was seen performing a sexual act for Garland in his car in the Wal-Mart parking lot last Wednesday.

The alleged victim was once a client of Mountain Valley Developmental Services, according to an arrest warrant affidavit, and Garland, who was a manager at Safeway, acted as her “job coach” and helped her get the job at Wal-Mart about 11 years ago.

He declined to comment on the allegations.

The woman didn’t speak to police while at Wal-Mart. She talked to them later at the police department in an interview including her parents.

The woman’s demeanor appeared “very childish” and she was difficult to understand at times. She eventually nodded and answered “yes” to a question about whether the sexual act occurred, the affidavit says, later adding that Garland regularly came by her house.

The woman’s mother told the detective the woman had a developmental disability since birth.

Mountain Valley Developmental Services told police that home visits are contrary to policy and there’s no reason Garland should have gone to the woman’s house. A job coach helps people find jobs and is supposed to act as an “interpreter” between employer and employee, the affidavit says.

The charge in the affidavit says Garland knew the alleged victim was incapable of determining the nature of her conduct.

Garland is free on $25,000 bond and will appear for formal filing of charges Aug. 20.