Social Worker Guilty of Sex with Boy

(Bay County, Michigan) A 46-year-old former social worker at the Bay County Lutheran Home, Annette J. Belonga, pleaded no contest to criminal sexual conduct related to engaging in sex with a 16-year-old detained juvenile in 2004.

According to the plea bargain, Belonga faces between 29 and 57 months in prison when she is sentenced on June 18th. However, if Bay County Circuit Judge Kenneth W. Schmidt imposes a higher sentence, Belonga may withdraw her plea.

Prosecutors allege that Belonga had sexual intercourse and oral sex with the boy in her office at the Lutheran Home at 304 N. Tuscola Road in June 2004. The home, operated by Lutheran Child and Family Service of Michigan, provides housing and counseling for young offenders.

The victim also claims the two had sex in the woods near Tawas City after Belonga drove him to Grayling to obtain an ID card.

Although the victim was 16 at the time of the alleged sexual incidents - the legal age of consent in Michigan - state law allows teachers and counselors to be criminally charged for having sex with students or residents under their authority who are 16 or 17 years old, even if it is consensual.

Belonga's social worker license was suspended in March 2004 for "lack of moral character." She resigned from the Lutheran Home in August 2004 after being counseled on "professional boundaries." Lutheran Home administrator Colleen Gorman alerted authorities after discovering love letters from the alleged victim.

Belonga is free on bond awaiting her sentencing.