A mental health counselor in Oak Harbor has been charged with unprofessional conduct, according to a notice from the state Department of Health.
Todd Webb of Oak Harbor Christian Counseling is accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a student while he was a teacher in Mason County, the notice states.
Webb’s license is active and he will have an opportunity to defend himself against the charge.
According to the statement of charges, Webb was a teacher with the Grapeview School District from June 2015 to January 2017. District administration placed him on administrative leave in March of 2017 in order to investigate.
The district concluded that Webb “engaged in multiple invasions of professional boundaries with the student, including discussions of personal issues with the student, directing the student to communicate online via Google messenger, video chatting, exchanging photographs, telling the student he loved her, referring to the student as ‘honey,’ ‘beautiful,’ ’sweetheart’ and ‘daughter’ and encouraging her to call him ‘dad,’ and directing her to a website where they could communicate anonymously,” the statement of charges reports.
Webb resigned in June 2017.
On Nov. 20, 2017, the state Department of Health issued Webb a credential to practice as a mental health counselor.
The state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction investigated Webb, discovered that he had continued to contact the girl after leaving the school and filed a complaint with the state Department of Health, the document states.
The student said her last contact with Webb was in March 2019, after she moved to a different state, according to the statement of charges.
The document states that, based on the alleged facts, Webb violated the part of the law regarding professional conduct for mental health counselors by committing an act “involving moral turpitude, dishonesty, or corruption relating to the practice of the person’s profession, whether the act constitutes a crime or not.”
Webb did not return a call for comment.
