Mother accused of having sex with foster child is back in court

GREENSBURG, Pa. — A Westmoreland County mother accused of having sex with a foster child was surrounded by family Thursday when she appeared in court.

The boy she's accused of having sex with is now a grown man and he had some shocking testimony for the judge.

The victim testified in court that he thought moving into the foster home meant that he would be around people he could confide in and trust.

Instead, he testified, his foster mother had sex with him more than 500 times.

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Joelle Barozzini walked into the Westermoreland County courthouse holding hands with supporters, but inside, there was potentially damning testimony against her.

The man who was her foster son, and 16 years old at the time, alleged she had sex with him more than 500 times over several years, beginning in 2009.

According to our partners at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, he testified: "There was times when it was not happening at all and she wanted to go back to play the mother role, as she would call it, and there was times it was daily or every other day."

"I was honestly too nervous to say no," he said. "Every single time, just about, would be against my will."

Barozzini worked at Pressley Ridge in Uniontown. She was a foster parent for the nonprofit, and trained other parents in fostering children.

Detectives said one case worker reported her suspicions of an inappropriate relationship to a supervisor at Pressley Ridge, who then told the caseworker responsible for the boy in Greene County.  But the caseworker was reprimanded for "gossip" and removed from the case.

The victim's sister also told Channel 11 that she also spoke to a caseworker about it years ago, but nothing came from it.

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The victim testified that he tried to tell a family member and friend, but they didn't believe him, and he was afraid of being moved to another negative foster home situation.

Barozzini remains free on a $50,000 unsecured bail.

Cox Media Group