Marriage counselor accused of having sex with California client gets certified to practice in Iowa
The state of Iowa has granted a marital therapy license to a man who, years earlier, was accused of having sex with a female client while providing marriage counseling to her and her husband – conduct that led to harsh disciplinary action in California.
The Iowa Board of Behavioral Health Professionals made no mention of the specific allegations against Gary Bell, who has a podcast and radio show where he gives advice to struggling couples.
In its approval order dated February 3, the Iowa board mentioned that Bell, 62, had submitted to a settlement and a disciplinary order from the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (CBBS).
That disciplinary order, from September 2020, stemmed from Bell’s interactions with a couple he saw for multiple counseling appointments in 2017. The female client was identified as S.L. and her husband was identified as B.L. by California authorities.
The Daily Mail independently identified the woman as Susan Leedy, who was employed as a nurse at the time.
In a disciplinary document filed by the CBBS, investigators alleged that Bell and Leedy, 50, had sex in his Riverside County office on two separate occasions in December 2017.
Bell denied this ever happened in a statement to the Daily Mail, saying that on those two occasions, Leedy made unwanted sexual advances that he rebuffed.
The disciplinary document, obtained by the Iowa Capital Dispatch, also stated that after the two allegedly had sex, Bell went on vacation with his wife and family, during which he and Leedy ‘exchanged hundreds of text messages and emails’.
Gary Bell had his marital counseling license suspended by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences after he was accused of having sex with a female client. Bell denied this ever happened in a statement to the Daily Mail
Bell, who is married, allegedly told Leedy in messages that he wanted to be ‘friends’ with her and stay committed to his wife, according to the CBBS.
Bell acknowledged that he exchanged messages with Leedy but claimed she was the one initiating contact and that he was trying to ‘placate’ her.
In her messages to him, he alleged that she threatened to report him for having a sexual relationship with her in order to get him in trouble with the police and the CBBS.
According to the CBBS’s account of events, Bell’s wife allegedly found text messages between Bell and Leedy sometime in January 2018.
Days later, Leedy showed up uninvited to Bell’s home and had a confrontation with Bell, according to the CBBS and other court documents.
In February 2018, Leedy’s husband filed for divorce, while Bell sought a temporary restraining order against her. In April 2018, Bell was granted a permanent restraining order against Leedy.
Leedy, meanwhile, filed a criminal complaint against Bell, who was charged in August 2018 with two counts of sexual exploitation of a client. He also faced a felony perjury charge for statements he made when he filed for a restraining order. All three charges were dismissed in November 2018.
Per court records, Leedy continued to contact Bell and his wife until April 2019, when she was arrested on charges of felony stalking and violating the restraining order.
Susan Leedy, the female client Bell was accused of having sex with in December 2017, got divorced from her husband in February 2018. She was then convicted of stalking Bell for continually contacting him and his wife in violation of a restraining order
Leedy was convicted and sentenced to 212 days in jail, followed by a three-year period of supervised release. She was once again ordered to stay away from Bell and his family.
Authorities said in the leadup to her eventual arrest, Leedy called and messaged Bell dozens of times. In October 2018, Bell reported her to the police and demanded she be prosecuted.
Leedy later told a Riverside County sheriff’s deputy that she ‘was not intending to harass Bell, she only wanted to convince Bell to confess’.
‘Breaking the restraining order is like her protest in a way,’ the deputy wrote in a report.
Leedy was also accused of harassing investigators at the CBBS and Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, two agencies that were involved with investigating Bell for his alleged misconduct at the time.
Much of her correspondence with these authorities, where she accuses them of corruption and of sending the police to her home to intimidate her, were posted on her public Facebook page.
Her ire wasn’t just aimed at prosecutors, as she also allegedly sent a pornographic image to her own attorney at the time.
A psychologist who examined Leedy determined she was suffering from a personality disorder, which precludes her from practicing nursing safely. This led to her license being revoked in May 2021.
The Daily Mail approached Leedy for comment.
The banner for Bell’s podcast and radio show, which he continues to produce
While Leedy was being prosecuted for her actions, Bell faced his own problems.
The California Board of Behavioral Sciences charged him with unprofessional conduct through gross negligence or incompetence in connection with his alleged affair with Leedy.
In April 2020, the board revoked Bell’s counseling license, later softening its decision by agreeing to place him on probation for seven years.
During that probationary period, Bell had to submit to a psychological evaluation and therapy. He also agreed to pay the board $14,000 for expenses it incurred investigating and prosecuting him.
Although Bell appears to have rebounded by getting approved to conduct marital counseling in Iowa, his license in the state is restricted.
For the next 12 months, Bell will be on probation. During that time, another licensed family therapist in Iowa will have to monitor him as he sees patients. The monitor will then have to submit four quarterly reports to Iowa regulators on Bell’s performance.
Bell is also licensed in Washington. He had a license in the state prior to the enforcement action by California in 2020.
Washington regulators responded by putting Bell under similar restrictions in 2021.
After his legal troubles and Leedy’s stalking, Bell relocated to the Seattle area with his family. He is married and has two children and continues to work in Washington as a marital counselor and family therapist
Like in Iowa, he had to find another licensed therapist to supervise him, according to an informal disposition order from the state’s health department.
For the next seven years, it was stipulated that the supervisor would meet with him for at least one hour per week. The supervisor was also required to submit quarterly performance evaluation reports to authorities.
However, on February 6, Washington released him from these requirements. Regulators stated Bell ‘complied with the terms of the agreement.’
Bell told the Daily Mail he moved to the Seattle area in 2018 to get away from Leedy. He currently practices at Seattle Christian Counseling.
Still married, he has a daughter in college and an 11-year-old son.
In January, he petitioned the California Board of Behavioral Sciences to release him from his probation period early, arguing he has complied with its stipulations.
‘This event has prevented me from taking insurance for any client [in California] due to insurance not accepting a practitioner with this on their record. Yet, I am the only income for my family,’ he wrote in a letter to the board. ‘I can’t not work. We have no life savings due to all the legal actions.’
