Tarrant County Marriage Counselor Accused of Having Sex with Patient
By: NBC DFW
Updated: February 14, 2013
A marriage counselor charged with sexual assault is on trial in Tarrant County, accused of using her position of authority to have sex with a patient.
Sheila Loven counseled a couple in 2009 and allegedly used her counseling influence to encourage the wife to file for divorce; then had an affair with her husband.
The wife took the stand on Thursday and testified about her relationship with Loven, which she described as "visiting her best friend once a week to talk."
The wife said Loven spoke unfavorably about her husband for months and encouraged the two to divorce.
"It wasn't marriage counseling, it was divorce counseling," the wife said in court.
In Sept. 2009, after the wife filed for divorce, she met Loven at Flip's in Grapevine, Texas. Throughout lunch she disclosed to Loven suspicions she had about her husband seeing someone. She testified that after a possible girlfriend was mentioned, Loven admitted her involvement.
"It's me, it's me," the wife said Loven told her.
The Fort Worth Star Telegram reports that Loven and the husband had an affair for two months in 2009 before the couple reconciled after realizing that Loven had been deceiving them during their separate counseling sessions.
"I thought she was my friend, I thought she cared," the wife testified.
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