New Jersey psychologist gives up Pennsylvania license after slinking away from New Jersey

October 7, 2010

In early September 2010, psychologist Natalie Barone, Ph.D agreed to the indefinite suspension of her license in the state of Pennsylvania.  Barone, who was employed as a psychologist and administrator with New Jersey’s civil commitment program (which incarcerates sex offenders considered too dangerous to release following their prison sentences) came under investigation in late June 2010 by the New Jersey State Board of Psychology on allegations of engaging in a sexual affair with a patient—an inmate of one of the sex offender “special treatment units” in Avenel, New Jersey.  In June 2009, an off-duty corrections department security officer spotted Barone, who had provided one-on-one counseling to the inmate (who had been convicted of sexual assault of two teenage girls), walking together on a boardwalk on the Jersey Shore, prompting a report which resulted in an internal investigation and Barone’s suspension.  She attempted to resign but was terminated from her position in the Department of Corrections.  The state of New Jersey accepted the surrender of her psychologist’s license in August.

Source: Chris Megerian, “N.J. psychologist fired, faces loss of license after alleged relationship with sex offender patient,” The Newark Ledger, July 1, 2010 and Chris Megerian, “Ex-N.J. psychologist fired for alleged affair with patient agrees to license suspension in Pennsylvania,” The Newark Ledger, September 27, 2010.