A care worker at a northern Minnesota drug treatment center for juveniles helped two teen residents escape to get drugs, got high with them while at the facility, and had sex with them more than two dozen times, according to court and state records.

The staff member, Melanie Lynn Peterson, 30, who court records say "was responsible for the care and well-being of juveniles housed at the facility," pleaded guilty in June to three counts of criminal sexual conduct and three controlled substance crimes.

On Friday, the Minnesota Department of Human Services found Peterson responsible for sexual abuse of the two minors while she worked at the Northland Recovery Center's Adolescent Unit in Grand Rapids.

Peterson's relationship with the two teens began sometime in March, according to court and DHS records. One of the boys, who was 15, had been at Northland Recovery since the start of the year. The teen told police ­Peterson would often help him leave the unit and not trigger the alarms so he could find drugs. He said they snorted pills and had sex about 20 times in the facility and four times at her home.

When confronted, Peterson admitted to police that she used drugs with one of the teens and had sex with him.

The other boy was 17 and considered a "smart and tenacious person" diagnosed with substance abuse disorders and considered vulnerable to neglect and abuse, according to the DHS report. He said Peterson helped him escape from Northland Recovery, that Peterson had sex with him at least twice in the facility and was "high for a week" from the drugs she gave him. The teen told DHS investigators that he suspected Peterson tampered with their drug tests because "none of us were getting in trouble."

A staff member at Northland Recovery referred all questions to the Director of Services, Colleen MacKay, who was on vacation Friday.

According to the DHS report, following an internal review Northland Recovery "determined that policies and procedures were adequate but not followed," and that "the incidents were not similar to past incidents." Still, Northland Recovery said staff members were trained on boundaries and that surveillance cameras would be "pursued."

Peterson is scheduled to be sentenced at the end of the month.

This is the second time in two months DHS has found a juvenile was sexually abused at a child residential center. In May, the agency determined that a staff member of a Minnetonka facility for troubled teenage girls raped a 14-year-old resident. That person was not charged.

Brandon Stahl • 612-673-4626