BCSO: No local victims have come forward

PANAMA CITY — Investigators looking into whether a Volusia County psychotherapist arrested in Bay County last week on sex crime charges had victimized anyone at a local treatment facility where he worked have found none.

The Bay County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday arrested 62-year-old Gerard Pepin on a warrant issued in Volusia County charging him with two counts of sexual battery by a psychotherapist. He had been working at a Salvation Army clinic in 2011, when he allegedly coerced a young female patient to perform sex acts.

Because Pepin had worked at Chemical Addictions Recovery Effort, Inc., or CARE, in Callaway, investigators worried he might have victimized locals during his time here, but as of Wednesday afternoon no local victims had come forward, said Maj. Tommy Ford with the BCSO.

“I think the position he had [at CARE] would not have provided the same opportunity,” Ford said.

At CARE, Pepin was an evaluator and instructor in the DUI program, said Human Resources and Operations Manager Delbert Horton. He would have dealt with people who had been arrested for DUI, and he would not have had repeat contact with clients, Horton said.

“That position was not a counselor position,” Horton said.

In Daytona Beach, Pepin worked as a clinical supervisor. The victim in the case for which he is charged told police Pepin caught her violating the rehab facility’s rules and promised not to report the violation if she performed a sex act for his benefit.