A Bucks County “house parent” in charge of taking care of troubled youth is accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a teen boy while providing him with guns, drugs and money.
Cristal Betancourt, 30, is charged with institutional sexual assault of a minor, possession of a firearm by a minor, corruption of minors, endangering the welfare of children, and other related offenses.
Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673.
The investigation began in January 2025 when police in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, spotted a photo of Betancourt with a 16-year-old boy who was holding a weapon, according to a criminal complaint. Police said the boy was on probation at the time.
While the 16-year-old was originally from Lancaster County, he was staying at a home in Feasterville, Pennsylvania, that was managed by the Community Service Foundation (CSF), a Bucks County-organization that provides housing and behavioral rehabilitation services for troubled teens, similar to a foster home. The teen boys who live at the Feasterville home are ordered by the courts to be there fulltime in order to complete a rehab program to prepare them to return to their homes and communities.
Betancourt served as a “house parent” at the Feasterville home who lived with the teens in order to give them structure and provide for them, officials said. As a house parent, Betancourt was also responsible for recommending to CSF which teens behaved well enough for them to receive passes that allowed them to return to their homes for weekends or holidays or to visit family members.
The teens who stay at the home are considered to be in the legal custody of the state and are often from Pennsylvania counties outside of Bucks.
After Lower Southampton Police received the report from Lancaster County in January 2025, they interviewed Betancourt who allegedly admitted to owning two handguns inside the Feasterville home. Police initially only found one of the two guns at the home however and Betancourt told them her other gun had been stolen, according to the criminal complaint. The gun that was reportedly stolen appeared to be the same one in the photo that the 16-year-old boy was holding, investigators said.
Police later interviewed the 16-year-old boy and obtained his cellphone. Through interviews as well as photos and messages on the phone, investigators determined that Betancourt had been in a sexual relationship with the teen between November 2024 and December 2024, according to the criminal complaint. Investigators believe the incidents took place at the Feasterville home.
The teen told investigators that Betancourt bribed him with guns, money and drugs in exchange for sex, police said. The teen also described Betancourt as “crazy” and said that on one occasion she pointed a gun to his head in order to force him to have sex with her, according to investigators.
The teen also said that Betancourt told him in December 2024 that she was pregnant by him and asked him for money to pay for Plan B medication, according to the criminal complaint.
Investigators also determined that at some point Betancourt brought the teen to a gun shop in Lower Southampton Township to look for firearms and that it was the same store where she bought one of her handguns.
CSF employees told investigators that Betancourt was aware the teen boy was on probation and not allowed to have access to firearms due to his criminal record, according to the criminal complaint. They also said house parents were not allowed to keep guns inside the Feasterville home and that Betancourt drove the teen to Lancaster County without their permission.
CSF also said that in late December 2024, they contacted Betancourt and asked if the teen boy was with her. Betancourt told them she was with the teen at a Costco in Warminster but cellphone data showed they were actually in Lancaster County at the time, according to investigators.
Police also said they found numerous financial transactions between Betancourt and the teen despite house parents not being allowed to give the boys money or receive money from them.
While Betancourt has been charged and a warrant was issued for her arrest, she has not yet surrendered to police. Court records also don’t list an attorney who could speak on her behalf.
Betancourt’s LinkedIn page describes her as a family resource counselor with jobs in New York and Pennsylvania. Police say Betancourt was fired by CSF. NBC10 reached out to CSF for comment but an employee did not provide one.
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