Ex-counsellor at youth jail sentenced to seven years for sexually exploiting teenage inmate

A former Manitoba Youth Centre counsellor and a 16-year-old incarcerated boy fantasized about living together and having children, and engaged in phone sex during 200 jailhouse phone calls, a court was told Thursday.

Those phone calls, recordings of which were provided to police, led to Brenna Beauregard’s arrest in December 2024 and the discovery she had repeatedly sexually exploited the teen while he was in custody that year for gang-related assault and weapons offences.

On Thursday, Beauregard, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation and two counts of breaching a court order, which was put in place following her arrest, that required her to have no contact with the victim and his mother.

In a sentence jointly recommended by Crown and defence lawyers, provincial court Judge Denis Guénette ordered that Beauregard serve seven years in prison.

“Public service is an honourable calling… It’s unfortunate when someone takes advantage of their position in public service and corrupts it for their own personal motive,” he said.

A myth continues to prevail that male youths are not victims of sexual abuse when their abuser is an adult woman, Guénette said.

“This is not the way the law sees this interaction, especially when the abuser is in a position of trust or authority,” he said. “You were an adult entrusted to be his juvenile counsellor, you were not there to become his significant other.”

The agreed statement of facts provided to court says an MYC security officer was monitoring the teen’s phone calls in October 2024 when he realized the woman the teen was calling had knowledge of MYC operations and staff. The security officer alerted senior administrators who confirmed the teen had been calling Beauregard’s cellphone.

Beauregard was placed on administrative leave on Oct. 10. On Nov. 20, a Winnipeg Police Service officer secured a production order for the phone call recordings and began reviewing them.

“The accused and (the teen) frequently discussed happenings at MYC, (the teen’s) social media account and numerous non-sexual topics ranging from vacations the accused was taking through family matters,” says the agreed statement of facts. “Many of the calls were also sexually graphic and included the accused and (the teen) discussing sexual acts, engaging in phone sex, as well as referring to sexual acts they had engaged in together.”

In a July 30, 2024, call, the two expressed fear other youth inmates knew about their “relationship” and worried about security cameras at the youth centre catching them together. In a series of calls in August, they fantasized about living together in a house in St. James, having children, and getting matching tattoos.

“Public service is an honourable calling… It’s unfortunate when someone takes advantage of their position in public service and corrupts it for their own personal motive.”

In other calls, Beauregard talked about giving money to the teen and his mother.

In an Aug. 26 call, Beauregard “acknowledges that she is ‘doing illegal stuff’ and risking both her job and jail,” says the agreed statement of facts.

Police executed a search warrant at Beauregard’s home on Dec. 21, 2024, and seized a box of letters between Beauregard and the teen and a money order receipt dated three days earlier that identified the teen as the payee.

In one letter, Beauregard tells the teen: “If you need to carry a gun then that’s fine you do what you gotta do. Just can’t get caught cause I don’t want you to have to go back in as soon as I get you out.”

In a police interview following her arrest, Beauregard said she had been “intimidated” into becoming involved with the teen, denied having sex with him and described herself as a victim as she alleged gang members had gone to her house.

Beauregard was young, naive, and had never been in a significant relationship before she was “manipulated” into becoming involved with the teen, said defence lawyer Saul Simmonds, who alleged the teen’s request for money “bordered on extortion.”

Simmonds said some of the seized letters included references to violence in the teen’s past, providing Beauregard “all kinds of reasons for her to be concerned for her safety.”

“You were an adult entrusted to be his juvenile counsellor, you were not there to become his significant other.”

“Ms. Beauregard does not deny her culpability, (but) there’s blame to go around in this case,” he said.

Beauregard wiped tears from her face as she apologized for the “bad choices” she made.

Beauregard received credit for time served, reducing her remaining sentence to just over five years.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca