A Portland-based social worker who was out on bail after being charged with having an unlawful sexual relationship with a female client was arrested again Wednesday and charged with violating terms of his bail by contacting the woman after he was released.
Kelly F. O’Rourke, 51, of Scarborough learned through social media where the woman was in Portland and approached her while she was in her car around 2 p.m. Tuesday and hugged her, though she protested, according to a prosecutor.
O’Rourke was first arrested on June 30 and charged under Maine’s gross sexual assault law, which makes it a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison for a social worker to engage in a sexual act with a current client. He was freed on $1,000 cash bail after his first appearance in court on that charge with conditions including that he wear a GPS monitoring device and have no contact with the woman.
O’Rourke returned to the Cumberland County Courthouse in Portland on Friday afternoon. Judge E. Paul Eggert revoked his prior bail and ordered him to remain in jail without bail while the gross sexual assault case is pending. The new charge, violation the conditions of release, is also a Class C felony.
The prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Angela Cannon, said O’Rourke supposedly thought that the woman was at risk of harming herself and that only he could save her. He found her in a car in Portland and appeared at her passenger window while wearing the electronic bracelet, alerting authorities to what was happening, she said.
“She kept telling him he needed to get away from her,” Cannon said. “Her phone kept ringing and she thought that was the electronic monitoring company trying to contact her.”
O’Rourke’s attorney, Rob Andrews, said outside the courtroom after the hearing that the woman contacted his client to tell him her location Tuesday, and that the woman left prior voice mail messages for him that undermine her other statements.
“We’re trying to figure out what’s real and what isn’t,” Andrews said. “Mr. O’Rourke has given everything. He has given his career, his family and now he has given up his freedom, and we’re still not sure what’s real and what’s not real.”
O’Rourke said little at the court hearing other than to tell the judge that he understood the new charge against him. He was not required to enter a plea to either charge because prosecutors have yet to present the cases to a grand jury seeking indictments.
The victim, who is 40 and lives in Portland, did not attend the hearing. She declined to comment when reached by phone afterward. The Portland Press Herald’s policy is not to identify victims of sexual assault without their consent, and the woman requested anonymity.
O’Rourke was no longer practicing as a social worker at the time of his second arrest. He entered into a consent agreement Monday with the Maine State Board of Social Worker Licensure to cease while a criminal case against him is pending.
Scott Dolan can be contacted at 791-6304 or at:
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