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Police say that a YMCA youth worker was a manipulator and a molester who abused children in his apartment.
By CURTIS KRUEGER and JANE MEINHARDT
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 30, 2000
Christopher Lee Allen would drive into the parking lot at French Villas, circle the faded white buildings and offer to take kids on sleepovers.
At his apartment.
"He had his favorites in here who he picked to go, and they always went willingly," said Elizabeth Patton, who lives at French Villas. "And their parents would let them."
Allen won the trust of many parents in his job as the St. Petersburg YMCA's community outreach director. Parents knew the 26-year-old had worked tirelessly to establish YMCA programs in Lealman, the community sandwiched between St. Petersburg and Pinellas Park.
He spent long hours organizing youth activities, tossing footballs and shooting the breeze. He knew the jargon, joked easily with the kids, and kept his programs open late at night.
Now police say that "Mr. Chris," as the kids call him, was a manipulator and a molester who abused children in the apartment he shares with his wife.
Allen is set to appear in a bond hearing today and later he will have the chance to contest two counts of capital sexual battery, one charge of lewd and lascivious conduct and three counts of lewd and lascivious molestation.
Police documents and interviews with Lealman residents indicate what a strong influence Allen had over some of the youths and parents involved with the YMCA's programs. Such as the mother who says she went to Allen for permission to see her own daughter after the state took the child from her home -- the same 11-year-old daughter that Allen now stands accused of touching on "her buttocks, stomach and bare chest in a lewd manner."
The mother lives in French Villas, a Pinellas County Housing Authority complex on 54th Avenue N on the west side of the Lealman community. She says she had long worried about how much time Allen spent with her daughter. Their names are not included in this story, because the daughter is now considered a victim of abuse.
"He was doing strange things like buying her expensive jewelry and clothes and taking her to Red Lobster," the mother said. Allen even invited her daughter over to his apartment for sleepovers, she said; she couldn't count how many times.
But the mother waved away the doubts. "Being that he worked for the YMCA, you'd think he'd be okay. That's the deceiving part."
In February, authorities began investigating both Allen and the mother. The mother said the Department of Children and Families moved two of her three children out of her home, including the 11-year-old. The reasons are unclear because that investigation remains confidential.
Deputies also began to investigate whether Allen knew of abuse in the home but failed to report it. Later, they began to investigate whether Allen himself had fondled the girl. He was charged with touching "her buttocks, stomach, bare chest in a lewd manner."
Several officials became concerned after seeing Allen with the 11-year-old.
On her way to a meeting at the State Attorney's Office, the girl told a victim's advocate for the Pinellas Sheriff's Office that Allen had bought the clothes she was wearing and placed notes in all the pockets.
Several YMCA officials, including Allen, met the girl and victim's advocate Kimberly Jowell at the courthouse. "During our wait I observed Mr. Allen continuously holding the victim and rubbing her arms. At one point the victim stood up and so did Mr. Allen, he continued to hold her and at times would have both arms around her," Jowell wrote.
In a separate memo, Deputy Bill Cunningham wrote: "He was hugging and holding (the girl) constantly."
Allen acknowledged buying the girl's clothes, putting notes in the pockets, and buying her a Sony PlayStation so she would not be bored at a shelter where she was staying, according to Jowell's memo.
When Jowell announced that she planned to take the girl to breakfast, Allen "stated that he knows he is not supposed to be around her, but would like to go to breakfast with us."
Later, the girl said to Jowell "that Mr. Chris had told her he was going to get in trouble. I explained to the child that Mr. Allen is an adult and is responsible for his actions and she is not to blame."
After being removed from her home, the girl eventually was placed with an "appointed guardian," according to Jowell's memo. The guardian was a YMCA employee who worked alongside Allen.
The mother said that after her 11-year-old went to live with the guardian, Allen still was able to see the girl -- even though the mother could not. It was not clear if the guardian knew about the alleged meetings.
The mother said that she was so frustrated by the situation that she eventually asked Allen to take her to see her own daughter, and that they met twice for breakfast. "This is like a whole sick circle," the mother said earlier this month. "This is really crazy."
The guardian could not be reached for comment.
Allen's attorney, Anthony S. Battaglia Sr., declined to comment on specific allegations, but said his client is "a terrific person. He's a great leader, very dedicated." Allen, who grew up in Pinellas County, "is what you call a street missionary. He loves children," Battaglia said.
Others speak of Allen's energy and enthusiasm.
"I mean, he didn't put in 40 hours. He put in 60 and 70; he went over and above," said James "Mike" Quinlivan, director of the Lealman Family Center.
He has been "a very positive, energetic and charismatic person who was very committed to working with youth, and seemed to know how to relate to youth very well. They seemed to love him and he seemed to be able to reach kids," said Patty Van Alstine, a community planner for the Juvenile Welfare Board.
But her opinion would have been different, she says, if she had known the YMCA hired Allen despite the fact that he had been charged in South Carolina with committing lewd acts on a 12-year-old girl and a 13-year-old girl. He was acquitted of those charges in 1997.
"I would have questioned whether or not he should have direct contact with children," she said.
Some people were concerned.
Sheriff's Deputy Kent Viera wrote in a March memo that "on one occasion we observed Mr. Allen laying down on the sofa with a young girl sitting on the sofa next to him. Another young girl was rubbing his shoulders . . . we advised him that he needed to set boundaries with the children."
Quinlivan, of the Lealman Family Center, thought Allen "at times would be one of the kids instead of one of the counselors," although he did not suspect Allen of anything as serious as the crimes he has been accused of.
Meanwhile, the 11-year-old Allen is accused of fondling is struggling with her feelings, her mother said.
"Because she's a kid and she's confused, she still worries for him: Is he going to spend the rest of his life in jail?"
For her part, the mother says, "If he gets out of this one, I'm leaving. I'm picking up and leaving. The damage that's been done, it's unbelievable."
- Staff writer Curtis Krueger can be reached at krueger@sptimes.com or by calling 893-8232.