SCARBOROUGH – A Scarborough woman was in custody at the Cumberland County Jail on Thursday, charged with sexually abusing a boy at the Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland.
Police arrested Angela Theriault, 25, at her home on Two Rod Road at 5:56 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 22, on a Cumberland County warrant charging her with four counts of gross sexual assault while she was employed at the youth center. She resigned in December after being employed there for three years, Superintendent Rodney Bouffard said.
Theriault was scheduled to be arraigned at the Cumberland County Courthouse in Portland on Thursday afternoon, but the court appearance was postponed.
According to the Scarborough Police Department, Officer Joshua Guay arrested Theriault on a warrant issued after an internal investigation by the Maine Department of Corrections, which operates Long Creek.
Detective Sgt. Rick Rouse said corrections investigator Peter Herring contacted Scarborough police early Wednesday to request they pursue the warrant. Police visited Theriault’s residence earlier that day, but she was not home.
Bouffard said an investigation into the allegations against Theriault began “at least a month, probably a few months” before she resigned.
The investigation was conducted with the knowledge of the Maine State Police, Attorney General’s Office, corrections department and the alleged victim’s chief advocate. Bouffard declined to disclose the boy’s age, where he is from or when the alleged abuses occurred.
“Very clearly, the institution did everything we were supposed to do,” he said.
The Long Creek Youth Development Center houses more than 200 juvenile offenders – 193 boys and 18 girls – according to the Department of Corrections Web site. The facility, which opened as the Boys Training Center, a farm for young male offenders, and later became known as the Maine Youth Center, has existed in South Portland since 1853.
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