Former Monterey Co. Domestic Violence Counselor Pleads Guilty To Falsifying Class Attendance Reports

A man who owned a counseling service for domestic violence abusers in Monterey County pleaded guilty to falsifying the attendance of three probationers, prosecutors said Wednesday. Mark Charles Crout, 56, owner of Tri-County Counseling, entered a guilty plea to three felony counts of preparing false evidence, Monterey County prosecutors said. Crout is expected to be sentenced to three years of felony probation.

According to the district attorney's office, Crout, a county-appointed provider of court-mandated domestic violence counseling classes, admitted to preparing false progress reports certifying three different probationers had attended domestic violence counseling classes without missing any, when they in fact missed multiple classes.

Prosecutors said Crout created the false reports between September 2016 and this May. He allowed probationers who had paid their class in full to "check in" to the class by sending him a text message and not actually attending.

Crout would then provide false progress reports to the Monterey County Probation Department, or to the person attending the class to file in court themselves. Prosecutors said Crout's deception was unraveled when the probation department compared GPS records from a probationer's ankle bracelet to the progress report that Crout had said the man attended.

The department discovered that the probationer wasn't near Crout's office on eight days that he said he was in class. A further investigation revealed that at least four other probationers admitted to receiving credit for classes they didn't attend. Crout doesn't currently have a sentencing date.

By Bay City News

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