Name: Monterey County Probation Department Youth Center director arrested for alleged sexual relationship with a minor boy
Brand: eastbaytimes.com
SKU: eastbaytimes-com-52
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Monterey County Probation Department Youth Center director arrested for alleged sexual relationship with a minor boy

preview

By | Monterey County HeraldSALINAS – The director of the Monterey County Probation Department Youth Center was arrested on Wednesday after Sheriff’s Office investigators uncovered an alleged sexual relationship with a minor.Jennifer Butz-Tavares, 47, of Pacific Grove, was taken into custody by the Sheriff’s Office Investigation Division, which served search warrants at her residence.Butz-Tavares has been with the Monterey County Probation Department since 1997 serving in many capacities including deputy probation officer, supervisor and facility administrator while working as a community-based school campus probation officer, restorative justice coordinator, and as a child advocate working within a domestic violence unit.Last December, the Chief Probation Officers of California awarded leaders in probation for their contributions to the department, including Butz-Tavares.Before her arrest, Butz-Tavares led and managed staff and youth at the Monterey Youth Center, a local boys residential facility and aftercare program designed for Monterey County Juvenile Court wards.Butz-Tavares was immediately placed on administrative leave by the Probation Department once the criminal allegations were made known to the department’s management team.According to the Sheriff’s Office, in late May, members of the Monterey County Probation Department discovered inappropriate communication between a departmental employee and an inmate at Monterey County Jail. Chief Probation Officer Todd Keating reached out to Sheriff Steve Bernal and requested that the Sheriff’s Office conduct an internal investigation into the contact between the inmate and the probation department employee.In late June, the Sheriff’s Office Professional Standards Division launched an investigation, learned information that the investigation may be criminal in nature and turned it over to the Investigations Division Sexual Assault Unit. The investigation revealed the victim in the case was a minor and resident at the Monterey County Youth Center in Salinas.It was learned that during the victim’s residency, Director Butz-Tavares had inappropriate sexual contact with him when he was a minor. The relationship continued once the victim was released from custody and after he became an adult.After Butz-Tavares’ arrest, she was taken to Monterey County Jail and charged with communication with a minor for the purposes of sex, annoying or molesting a child, sexual battery, assault under the color of authority and dissuading a victim from reporting. Her bail has been set at $30,000.Anyone with information about Jennifer Butz-Tavares or this case is asked to contact Detective Rosy Silva at 831-755-3818 or Detective Sergeant Bryan Hoskins at 831-755-3773.We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.Get Morning Report and other email newslettersFollow UsMost PopularClose

By | Monterey County HeraldSALINAS – The director of the Monterey County Probation Department Youth Center was arrested on Wednesday after Sheriff’s Office investigators uncovered an alleged sexual relationship with a minor.Jennifer Butz-Tavares, 47, of Pacific Grove, was taken into custody by the Sheriff’s Office Investigation Division, which served search warrants at her residence.Butz-Tavares has been with the Monterey County Probation Department since 1997 serving in many capacities including deputy probation officer, supervisor and facility administrator while working as a...

public

James Herrera

gqlshare

Winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting. See the latest news from throughout the East Bay, including Contra Costa and Alameda counties.

Monterey County Probation Department Youth Center director arrested for alleged sexual relationship with a minor boy

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS