Daniel StaatsUPDATE: A spokesman with the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office said Daniel Staats is not licensed to provide counseling or therapy in the state. A search on the Tennessee Department of Health’s website also does not show Staats as licensed in that state.
Staats told the Times Free Press in an email this afternoon that he is not guilty of the crime alleged. He did not immediately respond to a follow-up message asking if he was licensed to practice. His attorney, Marcus Morris, did not immediately respond to an email or call seeking comment.
A Dalton police incident report and press release say the two women in this case met Staats because they had to go to a counselor as part of their probation sentence. One of the women told Staats that his name was on a list of approved counselors, and his services were the least expensive.
Conasauga Judicial Circuit District Attorney Bert Poston told the Times Free Press in an email that he did not know of any such list.
“You’d have to ask probation,” he said in an email. “Sentences generally require a type of counseling service, but leave the specific choice up to the defendant subject to approval by probation.”