Tularosa High counselor charged in Virginia rape
Darren Powell, 52, was arrested last week at his home
A man wanted for allegedly raping a teen in Virginia while working as her counselor has apparently been living in New Mexico — where he worked as a counselor at a school in Tularosa.
New Mexico State Police spokesman Ray Wilson said officers arrested 52-year-old Darren Powell last week at his home in La Luz.
“Powell was cooperative and was taken into custody without incident,” he said.
Wilson said Powell was booked into the Otero County Detention Center and is awaiting extradition to Virginia.
Powell is charged in Albemarle County with criminal sexual penetration in the repeated rape of a 15-yearold girl in 2004. At the time, authorities say Powell was the girl’s court-ordered counselor.
Powell is listed as a social worker at Tularosa High School and, as of Wednesday, his name and contact information appeared on the district’s website.
The district could not be reached Wednesday, but, on Feb. 7, posted a Facebook message referencing Powell and other counselors, writing “Our school counseling support does amazing work!”
The Tularosa Police Department did not respond to a call for comment.
A woman reported the years-old rape to Albemarle police in March 2022.
She told police Powell was assigned as her court-ordered counselor in 2004 and the sessions “quickly turned into grooming, and then a sexual relationship,” according to records filed in
Alamogordo Magistrate Court. The woman said Powell bought her cigarettes and alcohol, and the pair had sex at his apartment multiple times.
Police said the woman told them Powell ended the counseling on New Year’s Eve 2004, telling her “it was inappropriate” for them to have sex while he was her counselor. She said the counseling stopped, but the sexual relationship continued “until Mr. Powell left for New Mexico.”
A detective tried to find Powell, but “he is currently in New Mexico and the current address for him is not valid,” according to court records.