Vermont summer camp: Families notified about counselor’s arrest

CONCORD, N.H. ( AP) — The director of a Vermont summer camp says there have been no misconduct allegations there involving a longtime counselor who recently pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old student in New Hampshire.

Kristie Torbick, 39, was sentenced last month to up to 5 years in prison for the assault involving a student at Exeter High School, where she worked as a guidance counselor since 2016. She also was a longtime counselor at a camp for children with cancer in South Hero, Vermont. Torbick attended Camp Ta-Kum-Ta after her own diagnosis as a child and later joined the volunteer staff.

Hattie Johnson, the camp’s executive director, said the camp notified all of its families of Torbick’s arrest in February 2017.

“There was no allegation that any criminal activity involved Camp Ta-Kum-Ta,” she said. “The camp, including its employees and directors, did not participate in the court proceeding nor provide or authorize any letters of support on her behalf.”

She said any volunteers, former or current, who made statements regarding Torbick did so themselves.

Nearly two dozen people wrote letters of support, including lawyers, psychologists, Plymouth State Uni- versity professors and high school guidance counselors. Facing outrage from parents and victim advocates, the school superintendent in Bedford, where Torbick used to work, has since resigned over his decision to allow employees to publicly support her.

A Newfound Area School District counselor who wrote a letter also resigned and a Plymouth State professor who called the student a “pursuer” isn’t being re-hired.