Counselor Held on Suspicion of Sex With Former Teen Patient

A counselor at a Port Hueneme psychiatric hospital was being held without bail after he was arrested Friday for allegedly having sex with a 16-year-old former patient last August, authorities said.

Henry Campos, 43, was being held on suspicion of unlawful intercourse with the Ventura County girl, oral copulation and violating his parole on a theft conviction, authorities said.

Police officials said late Friday that body fluids found on the girl’s clothing matched a blood sample taken from Campos earlier this summer.

“The fact that we have an employee at a facility like that, in a position of trust” makes the case particularly disturbing, said Simi Valley Police Sgt. Bob Gardner.

Campos, an Oxnard resident and two-year employee at Anacapa Hospital, was fired after the former patient contacted police last September, hospital officials said.

According to police, Campos was working as a counselor when he met the patient, who was staying at an inpatient ward and being treated for substance abuse.

On Aug. 20, 1999, Campos and the girl met in Simi Valley and then he allegedly drove her to a park-and-ride lot on Stearns Street near the Ronald Reagan Freeway in Simi Valley, and the pair engaged in what police described as consensual sex inside Campos’ car.

Authorities said the incident occurred after the girl was released from the hospital.

The sergeant said Simi Valley authorities found Campos in May and on June 9 he was in custody for an alleged parole violation.

Campos was rearrested in jail Friday.

According to Chuck Morris, head of Anacapa Hospital, Campos’ criminal history was not investigated before he was hired--a policy that Morris said he plans to change.

Hospital officials were unaware of Campos’ theft conviction, and Morris said Campos had claimed in a job application that he had never been convicted of a crime.

Before he was fired, Campos worked as a counselor and a technician and was in a program at the hospital to become a certified alcoholism counselor.