Ex-YMCA employee is released on bail

Christopher Lee Allen is accused of sexually assaulting children he knew through work with the YMCA.

By CURTIS KRUEGER

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 1, 2000

Christopher Lee Allen was released from jail on $107,500 bail on Wednesday, but he won't be returning to a job at the St. Petersburg Family YMCA as he waits to face the six child sex charges against him.

Doug Linder, the president and CEO of the St. Petersburg Family YMCA, said Wednesday that Allen no longer works for the organization. Before turning himself in to authorities May 14, Allen served as the YMCA's community outreach director and worked with youths in the Lealman area between St. Petersburg and Pinellas Park.

Linder would not say whether Allen had resigned or had been fired, saying it was an internal matter.

Earlier, the YMCA had appeared to be seeking support for Allen. Linder wrote a letter to parents of the Lealman YMCA and French Villas apartments where Allen worked, saying: "Certainly, if someone feels Chris has harmed them, we would want them to tell authorities. However, I know many of you believe in Chris, and the things he has done for Lealman and French Villas. I would ask that you also speak up."

Linder said the YMCA is reviewing its hiring procedures in the wake of these cases, in which Allen is accused of two counts of sexually assaulting 11-year-old girls and four counts of lewd activity against other youths he knew through his work with the YMCA.

Earlier, John C. Cannon, the YMCA's former president, said in a bail hearing that Allen was hired by the YMCA after his 1995 arrest in South Carolina on charges of lewd acts on two girls, one 12 and one 13, but before he was acquitted of those charges in 1997. Cannon even testified as a character witness for Allen in South Carolina.

Asked whether the YMCA would again hire a youth worker who had a pending sex crime case against him or her, Linder, the current president, said, "I can't imagine that happening. We are looking at our hiring procedures overall."

Linder, who was not working for the local YMCA when Allen was hired, said he learned "recently" that Allen was hired while the South Carolina cases were pending. Asked his reaction to that news, he said he had no comment.

Three relatives -- a mother, an aunt and a father -- of two victims appeared at Tuesday's bail hearing to say they do not believe the charges against Allen. A fourth relative, a mother, submitted a written statement.

In a related matter, the St. Petersburg Times prepared a motion, to be delivered to the court today, seeking the release of written statements sealed by the judge of the children who are listed as victims in these cases.

Curtis Krueger can be reached at krueger@sptimes.com or by calling (727) 893-8232.

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