WHITE RIVER JUNCTION – A former mental health counselor at the Springfield prison has pleaded not guilty to a charge alleging she had sex with an inmate at the facility while she worked there before getting fired.
Victoria Calogero, 31, of Springfield entered the plea Tuesday during her arraignment on a felony charge of sexual exploitation of a prisoner. She was released on conditions, including that she not contact witnesses in the case.
Calogero and her attorney, Kevin Rogers, both declined comment Tuesday outside the courtroom in White River Junction immediately following the hearing.
If convicted of the charge, Calogero faces up to five years in prison.
Vermont State Police had announced in January Calogero’s arrest on the charge, however, investigators at that time provided only limited information about the case pending arraignment, when an affidavit in support of the charge became public.
Those records released Tuesday totaled 65 pages, and provide greater detail of the investigation leading to the charge as well as a look into past allegations of misconduct probed by the state Department of Corrections involving Calogero that did not lead to criminal proceedings.
The investigation that resulted in the criminal charge began in September when an inmate at Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield reported to corrections staff that he had sex with Calogero.
That inmate told investigators that many months earlier, he had been seeing Calogero for counseling, and they had sex in her office more than 20 times from July 1, 2017, to June 18, 2018, the filings stated.
At that time, according to the filing, Calogero was employed by Centurion, a company contracted by the state corrections department to provide health care services to prisoners.
The inmate said the location of Calogero’s office allowed them to hear outer doors unlock, giving them warning of anyone approaching, the filing stated.
The inmate also told investigators that his sexual relationship with Calogero continued after he was released and she traveled to meet him in a motel room where he was living.
Calogero, through her attorney, declined to be interviewed as part of the investigation, Vermont State Police Detective Sgt. Jesse Robson wrote in an affidavit.
However, Robson wrote, investigators obtained a warrant to search a part of her body that the inmate had reported seeing a “skin tag.” During that search, Robson wrote, they did not find that skin tag.
Another prisoner told investigators that the inmate talked about “taking advantage” of Calogero to get money, the affidavit stated.
The prisoner also said he “did not think” there was a relationship between Calogero and that inmate, adding that the inmate was concerned about the effect the allegation would have on her job, according to the affidavit.
Robson sought to find out why the inmate didn’t tell authorities earlier.
“I asked him why he waited,” the detective wrote, “and he said that he didn’t trust anyone.”
During the state police investigation, Robson wrote, he became aware that Calegoro had been under investigation by the Secretary of State’s Office of Professional Regulation licensing division over allegations of inappropriate conduct with a different inmate.
According to records in that licensing case, the misconduct allegations against Calogero came from an earlier probe by corrections officials dating back to November 2018 when she was fired from her job at the prison.
The filing in that licensing case does not specifically allege she had sex with that inmate behind bars.
One of the specific license violations against Calogero in that case alleges she engaged in “sexual conduct with a client with whom the licensee has had a professional relationship within the previous two years.”
Following the filing of the criminal charge and allegations of sex with a different inmate behind bars in January, Calogero, through her attorney, agreed to a suspension of her license pending a hearing on the merits of the allegations against her.
It was not immediately clear Tuesday afternoon when that hearing will take place.
Documents made public earlier Tuesday as part of the criminal case following Calogero’s arraignment showed that corrections officials as far back as 2017 had looked into matters of “boundary issues” involving Calogero.
Among those documents was an email from April 19, 2017, from Ed Adams, who was superintendent at Springfield prison at the time, to other corrections officials, including Michael Touchette, then the director of correctional facilities.
“Conducted preliminary review into allegations of boundary issues between MHP Victoria Calegoro and inmates at Southern State Correctional Center,” Adams wrote. “Boundary issue concerns are validated but no evidence exists at this time that Calegoro has engaged in sexualized behavior.”
Adams added that “upon initial review” he was concerned that staff retaliation was the underlying issue, and could still not rule it out.
“I can say with some confidence,” Adams wrote, “that there are enough factual issues present to cause staff to be reasonably concerned which has mitigated my thoughts that retaliation was a primary factor.”
The next day Adams wrote an email to other corrections officials stating: “I would like to remain the only point of contact at SSCF for this incident as I believe it intertwines with other personnel issues that I am monitoring here.”
More than a year later Adams was removed from his position as Springfield prison superintendent, though state officials haven’t said why.
In September 2018, Adams was placed on leave from his job at the prison. Through a public records lawsuit against the state, VTDigger obtained documents and reported that the state signed a confidential agreement with Adams in December 2018.
According to documents obtained by VTDigger, Adams was demoted to a probation officer job and his rate of pay stayed nearly the same at $45 per hour.
However, the reason for Adams’ removal from the superintendent position has still not been released by the state. Records made public so far in the lawsuit brought by the news organization say only that he was investigated after employee “allegations.”
Before working at the Springfield prison, Adams was superintendent of the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, the state’s only women’s prison.
During his tenure at CRCF, a female corrections officer accused Adams of creating a hostile work environment, the Burlington Free Press first reported.
In her complaint, the corrections officer alleged that “DOC has a pattern and practice of promoting known harassers and otherwise engaging in conduct that promotes harassment, and discourages harassment victims from coming forward.”
Read the story on VTDigger here: Counselor accused of having sex with inmate denies charge.