Counselor Called Patient Home For Therapy, Allegedly Assaulted Her In Hot Tub

An Iowa therapist was arrested Monday after she was accused of exploiting a female patient by touching and kissing her in a hot tub in her home.

The suspect, identified as 45-year-old Aracely Schutters, was a social worker at The Compass, a center for disabilities and development based in Iowa City. According to a report in New York Daily News, Schutters was accused of inviting a female patient to her home in Bettendorf, a city in Scott County through text messages. Reports state the victim, who remains unidentified, arrived at Schutters’ home on Dec. 4 before getting in a hot tub.

According to the arrest affidavit, Schutters was an employee of The Compass for about a year and a half as a therapist, Quad-City Times, a morning newspaper based in Davenport, reported.

The client who had never met Schutters outside the clinic went to her house and entered her hot tub so that she could speak about the issues she had been dealing with. However, things started to turn awry when Schutters tried to get the patient drunk by serving her several alcoholic beverages in addition to engaging in unwanted kissing and touching.

The affidavit said Schutters also told the client “this is so wrong, I can’t be your counselor anymore,” after which the client got out of the hot tub and left. Schutters later apologized through text messages and a phone call.

Keith Kimball, Bettendorf Police Captain, told Quad-City Times that the incident was reported by the victim two days after it happened. During an interview with the police, Schutters herself admitted to kissing her client in the hot tub.

Schutters, who lives in the 2900 block of Dundee Lane, was facing one count of sexual exploitation by a counselor/therapist, a Class D felony and is punishable by up to five years in prison. A preliminary hearing in the case was scheduled for Feb. 2 and Schutters was out of the Scott County jail on a $5,000 bail.

According to the legal guidelines in Iowa, “any sexual conduct by a therapist or counselor with an emotionally dependent patient or client or an emotionally dependent former patient or client, regardless of age is criminalized." The Iowa Code for sexual conduct also includes strict rules against kissing and/or touching.

Schutters' biography and photograph which were part of her profile on The Compass’ website were deleted on Tuesday afternoon. According to her biography, Schutter was a “bilingual practitioner with over 15 years of experience in the field of psychiatry” and a licensed master social worker. The website also said she had an experience of working with both “inpatient and outpatient settings including, work with individuals, children/teens, couples, families, and groups."