Former youth worker accused of sex abuse, brainwashing of teen

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This article was published 02/05/2017 (3109 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A former youth worker accused of sexually abusing and brainwashing a teen boy who ran away from his group home is standing trial this week, more than two decades after the alleged abuse occurred.

Dawn Dychko-Stamm, now in her early 50s, pleaded not guilty Monday to sexual assault and other sexual offences stemming from allegations brought against her by a former group home resident who was under her care when he was a teenager.

The now-38-year-old man spent Monday and Tuesday on the witness stand, testifying Dychko-Stamm harboured him in her home for months when he was 15, began a sexual relationship with him, supplied him with drugs and alcohol and manipulated him into believing she was involved with biker gangs. For years, the alleged victim refused to go to the police, but he said he eventually pursued criminal charges because he wanted to stop others from being abused. The Winnipeg Police Service began its investigation in 2012 for crimes that allegedly occurred in the mid-1990s. The allegations have not been proven.

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Shawn Greenberg is presiding over the judge-alone trial, which is scheduled to last two weeks. Crown prosecutor Sheila Seesahai opened the Crown’s case with testimony from the complainant and a WPS officer tasked with handling the investigation. Defence lawyer Marty Minuk is representing the accused.

The complainant, who can’t be identified under a publication ban, was put into foster care as a teen after his divorced parents designated him a temporary ward of Child and Family Services. He ended up living in a group home run by the Knowles Centre, where Dychko-Stamm worked. They were friendly, the complainant testified, saying during her shifts Dychko-Stamm would write “nice” notes about him in a log book that group home staff and residents could read. Their friendship intensified after the boy was injured in a fight with another resident and Dychko-Stamm helped take care of him when he returned from the hospital, he said. Later, when Dychko-Stamm told him she would be taking some time off, he told her he didn’t want to stay in the group home if she wouldn’t be there, the complainant testified. He said Dychko-Stamm then gave him her home phone number and offered to let him stay with her. The next day, he ran away from the group home and called the older woman from a payphone, asking if her offer was still on the table.

For the next few months, he remained “on the run,” living with Dychko-Stamm, having sex and doing drugs with her. She introduced him to drug dealers and popped pills herself, the complainant testifed. She went to work less and less during his stay and referred to the boy as her “project,” he testified.

“She took me out of Knowles and helped me. I had nowhere. My mom gave up on me. My dad hated me. I felt like everybody didn’t care about me anymore and she was the only one who did,” the complainant said of the accused during his testimony. “None of this would be happening today if it wasn’t for all the psychological, crazy stuff that happened. If it was just some sexual thing, it might not be here (in court) today, but there was so much more that shouldn’t have happened, and it did.”

The complainant testified Dychko-Stamm manipulated him into believing she had connections to biker gangs and was part of a gun-smuggling ring. He said she promised him a $30,000 cut if he would help smuggle guns across the U.S. border and took him to a car dealership to pick out a new car he planned to buy with the money. The complainant, who described himself as a vulnerable kid who was trying to be a “young gangster” was eager to participate, but the plan never materialized. He said Dychko-Stamm was talking about the scheme on the phone to one of her connections when he grabbed the phone and discovered there was no one on the line. He testified he now believes she was making up the story as a way to manipulate him and keep him around with the appeal of easy money. When their relationship deteriorated, she threatened to have bikers kill him and he eventually went back to live with his mother, revealing the alleged abuse to her when he was 19.

The defence questioned the complainant on his background and lengthy criminal history Tuesday, suggesting he was lying about the dates and times in his story. He maintained he was telling the truth but admitted he could be confused about the exact timing of events.

katie.may@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @thatkatiemay