WBRZ - Baton Rouge

A psychiatrist says a former private-school counselor accused of a federal sex crime, is mentally ill and in need of treatment.

Allison Hargrave is accused of using e-mail to entice a 14-year-old girl at Ascension Episcopal School in Lafayette to engage in sexual activity.

Dr. Frank Ochberg, an expert in psychiatry, testified during a detention hearing Wednesday that he believed the incident between Hargrave and the student was a product of her mental illnesses and not some lifelong criminal pattern.

The hearing was meant to determine whether Hargrave should be released pending her trial in August.

A decision was not immediately issued.