Kindergarten Teacher Worked for 6 Months after Teen-Sex Arrest

A Florence Unified School District kindergarten teacher remained on the job for six months after she was arrested on suspicion of having sex with a 16-year-old, resigning only after the state notified the district, officials said.

The time lag between teacher Angela Csader's arrest and the district being notified has raised concerns from district officials and parents, according to a report in the East Valley Tribune.

"I wish to express not only our distress but our commitment to ensuring the safety ... of your children," district Superintendent Gary Nine wrote in a letter to parents.

Csader, a 25-year-old Queen Creek resident, was arrested in July on charges she had sex with a Gilbert boy who fathered her child.

Charged with three counts of sexual conduct with a minor, she's been on supervised release and continued to go to her job at Anthem Elementary School until late January, when the Arizona Department of Education notified the district.

She has declined through her lawyer to comment.

According to police reports and court records, Csader was hired by a Gilbert couple to help teach their 8-year-old in their home. She's accused of starting a sexual relationship with the boy's 16-year-old brother beginning in August 2006.

Her arrest highlights a communication lag between police, courts, the Department of Education and local school districts.

The state Department of Education has an investigation section that deals with teachers facing criminal charges. But under state law, school districts are responsible for notifying the department, which then revokes the teacher's certification.

District spokesman Larry Cline said the school found out on Jan. 30 that Csader's fingerprint card was revoked. To be certified as a teacher, state law requires a fingerprint clearance card issued by the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

But DPS officials said they don't notify schools if a fingerprint check pops up.

``There is no alert system where information about a teacher arrested would be forwarded,'' DPS spokesman Harold Sanders said.

More here and here.

Note from Gag:
I thought for sure Angela was a transvestite!

Houston area teacher accused of having sex with student

A Deer Park High School teacher has been accused of having sex with a teenage student.

Emily Kate Janes, 23, of La Porte, is charged with having an improper relationship with an 18-year-old student, a second-degree felony, prosecutors said. A criminal complaint was filed against her Monday.

Her attorney, Chris Samuelson, declined to discuss the allegations.

Prosecutors said Janes and the teen allegedly had a sexual relationship for about a month that began in late December 2007.

They apparently had several trysts at Janes' home, said Harris County Assistant District Attorney Denise Oncken. Oncken said Janes had met the teen when he was a student in one of her classes in spring 2007.

Oncken said an anonymous tip led Deer Park police to investigate a possible relationship between them. State law prohibits sexual contact between teachers and students, regardless of the student's age.

Janes resigned from the school Monday, said Matt Lucas, Deer Park Independent School District spokesman. She taught 11th-grade English at the school's south campus for about one year.

Lucas said it was her first teaching job,

Janes, who is married, is free on $30,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court March 13.

If convicted, she faces between two years and 20 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine. She also is eligible for probation.

Houston Chronicle

Note from Gag:
Wipe that ugly scowl off her face, give her a Proactive membership, and slap a little Walmart make-up on that little filly and she might not be half bad looking.

Charlene Schmitz guilty in student sex case

By Brendan Kirby

Charlene Schmitz twitched her head ever so slightly but otherwise showed no emotion this afternoon as she learned her fate in Mobile's federal court: guilty on two counts of child enticement.

In finding the Washington County teacher guilty of using a computer and cell phone to lure one of her students for sex, the nine women and three men on the jury evidently rejected testimony from her teenage daughter, who claimed that she used her mother's Yahoo account to send salacious instant messages to the student.

In addition to the 14-year-old girl, Schmitz, herself, testified today that she did not send inappropriate electronic messages or speak sexually with him over the telephone.

The 55-year-old Leroy woman faces 10 years to life in prison. A worst-case scenario drawn up by the U.S. Probation Office suggests a prison term of more than 12½ years to 15 years, under advisory guidelines.

But her punishment could be greater if U.S. District Judge Kristi DuBose determines that the defendant lied during her testimony. Murphy said prosecutors would evaluate whether to seek a harsher penalty based on obstruction of justice.

Schmitz, who is 40 years older than the boy, also could face state charges in Washington County. Charges brought by prosecutors there remain pending before a grand jury.

Defense attorney Donald Briskman, meanwhile, said he consider an appeal and other legal options. "Anytime you don't prevail, there is disappointment," he said.

Innuendo-laced instant message logs taken from the teen's computer formed the heart of the case against Schmitz. But her daughter, Tanya Thomas, testified that she logged onto her mother's Yahoo account and pretended to be her as she traded instant messages with the boy, she said.

Thomas told jurors she had begun dating the boy after meeting him on the social networking Web site MySpace and started to suspect that he had inappropriate feelings for her mother.

Press Register

Note from Gag:
I feel the most sorry for Tanya Thomas. Not only did she feel she had to cover up for her mother's sexcapades but she also dated one of the biggest losers in Alabama. You can't live down shit like that...

Student testifies about relationship with Charlene Schmitz

Student testifies about relationship

Teacher stands trial on enticement charge

Thursday, February 14, 2008

By BRENDAN KIRBY

Staff Reporter

A teenage boy testified Wednesday about his relationship with a Washington County teacher 40 years his senior who is standing trial on charges that she enticed him into an improper sexual relationship.

The boy, now 15, told jurors in federal court in Mobile that he started dating Charlene Schmitz's daughter on Valentine's Day last year.

Throughout the course of that relationship, he testified, he began spending time with Schmitz, 55, who had been his eighth-grade reading teacher.

The teen also became friends with Schmitz's teenage son and started sleeping over at the Schmitz house in Leroy, which was about a half-hour from his home in Calvert.

One day, the boy testified, Schmitz drove to his house to pick him up for a sleepover at his house.

The youth said he and Schmitz struck up an intimate conversation.

"She started talking about cheating and how she didn't like it," said the teen, speaking in a calm, clear voice. "And I was thinking, 'This is a little weird.'"

The boy testified that Schmitz asked for -- and received -- a kiss.

So began a relationship that would be carried out over a cell phone that Schmitz paid for, and instant messages on the computer, the boy testified.

Under cross-examination from defense attorney Donald Briskman, the boy acknowledged that he initially told investigators at the Child Advocacy Center in Grove Hill that the text messages he sent were to Schmitz's daughter. But, he said, he lied at the time to protect Schmitz.

Jurors saw a number of instant messages the investigators recovered from the boy's computer.Schmitz looked intently at a projection screen that displayed the words but showed no emotion as the conversations revealed sexually explicit chats.

"I wish U were old enough that I would not get into trouble," one passage from a June conversation reads. "I would not let any of the rest stop me."

The prosecution rested its case Wednesday.

Michael Black, a University of South Alabama instructor called as a defense expert, testified that there is no way to determine who wrote the instant messages. Anyone could have logged on under Schmitz's user name, he said.

But Black acknowledged that a user would need to have known Schmitz's passwords. And the boy testified that he had no doubt he was messaging with Schmitz, based on references made to things they had discussed.

Jurors saw a check for $125 that Schmitz wrote to the boy's mother, which was for a cell phone that she said was a present for the boy's moving from eighth grade to high school.

The mother said she was reluctant to accept so much money but that Schmitz insisted. The mother said she never cashed the check because she was waiting for the first bill to arrive and ended up turning it over the investigators.

She testified that she discovered her son's relationship when she saw a text message on his cell phone from Schmitz, which ended with "ILY," or "I love you."

"My first reaction was a double-take," the woman testified.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Murphy used her opening statement to hammer home the age difference between Schmitz and her student. She was born in 1952, the same year transistor radios came out, she said. The presidential race that year featured a contest between Dwight D. Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson.

The teenager, by contrast, was born in 1992. That was the same year that Miley "Hannah Montana" Cyrus was born and the year of the University of Alabama's last national championship in football. Bill Clinton won the presidential race.

"That's how recent that was," Murphy said.

Press Register

Note from Gag:
This kid is obviously a two time loser with no taste in women. I mean he wasn't even old enough to understand the rule that you always check out a girl's mother to see how awful the chick will look like in X amount of years!

Jessica Kahal gets probation in sex-with-student case

By Ray Huard

A former Helix Charter High School band director/music teacher was sentenced to three years' probation Wednesday for having sex with a 17-year-old student.

Jessica Ashley Kahal also was ordered by El Cajon Superior Court Judge Patricia K. Cookson to perform 400 hours of volunteer work, get psychological counseling and avoid contact with anyone under 18.

Kahal, 22, pleaded guilty in December to a charge of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor at least three years younger.

Had she gone to trial and been convicted, Kahal faced up to six years in prison, Deputy District Attorney Renee Palermo said.

Kahal admitted having sex with the student at least twice between August and September – once in a La Mesa apartment she shared with a long-time friend and once in the school band room one weekend, according to court documents.

The student told probation officials they had five sexual encounters – once in the band room and four times in his or her car.

Palermo argued in court that Kahal should be jailed for 120 days because she took advantage of her position as a teacher and failed to take full responsibility for her actions by telling probation officials that the student initiated the sexual contact.

Wiping tears from her eyes, Kahal said little other than to acknowledge the judge's sentence. According to court documents, she had told probation officials “I was the opposite of a role model.”

Defense attorney William Burnell said Kahal was humiliated by what happened.

“She's lost friends over this, she's lost her job, and I think not insignificant, her dignity has taken a direct hit,” Burnell said.

Kahal's relationship with the student came to light in October when she told her roommate, who was dating the school's assistant band director. The assistant director and another teacher went to the school principal, who called La Mesa police.

Kahal resigned on Oct. 5, and is now living with her parents in Los Angeles County and working as a waitress, according to court documents.

A music education graduate of Indiana University, she told probation officials that she plans to get a master's degree in music and hopes to be an orchestra condutor.

Kahal told officials that the band director/teaching slot she got in August was her first job out of college and she was quickly in over her head. She said she originally thought she would be the assistant director, but was offered the director's job.

“It was too much to take on,” she told officials. “I had a lot of breakdowns. I felt like I didn't know what I was doing.”

Feeling lonely, Kahal said she got involved with the student after he started flirting with her. He was her teaching assistant, she said.

Kahal said she knew what she was doing was wrong, but told the student not to tell anyone.

San Diego Union Tribune


Note from Gag:
Every time I feel like I don't know what I'm doing I reach for a cold one. Jessica, apparently, reaches for the nearest high school age penis.

Charlene Schmitz's federal trial to proceed

"The victim loves her," Murphy told DuBose. "The victim doesn't want her to go to jail. The victim thinks that once this is over, they will marry."

By BRENDAN KIRBY

Staff Reporter

The trial of a Washington County teacher accused of trying to lure one of her students for sex will go on in federal court in Mobile this week as scheduled, a judge ruled Friday.

Prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge Kristi DuBose to delay the trial on grounds that they needed more time to review hundreds of pages of medical records provided by defense attorneys past a court-set deadline.

Attorney Donald Briskman suggested he may offer the records to demonstrate that his client, Charlene Schmitz, suffers from an "inability or infirmity" that would prevent or inhibit sex.

Schmitz, 54, is accused of using a computer to lure a student for sex. The law does not require prosecutors to prove that sex actually occurred.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Murphy said she needed more time to hire an expert to interpret the voluminous medical records, which date back years.

But DuBose said she cannot imagine how those records would be admissible. At any rate, she said, prosecutors will have had the records for two weeks by the time trial begins Wednesday.

DuBose also granted a prosecution request to bar from the courtroom Leroy High School teachers and others in authority over the now-15-year-old victim when he testifies. But, she said, the law does not allow another request, that a barrier be erected to prevent Schmitz from having eye contact with the teenager.

Press-Register


Note from Gag:
I can totally see how this fourteen year old kid could love her. Who wouldn't want to bang Grandma Funbags for their first time?

The Donna Goebel case

A Westampton woman is charged with assaulting a 16-year-old at the school where she is employed.

By Edward Colimore and Sam Wood

A 43-year-old Westampton woman was being held yesterday on charges of sexually assaulting a student who attends a school where she worked as a teacher's aide, Burlington County authorities said.

Donna Goebel was arrested Thursday afternoon at her home on Churchill Street and taken to the minimum-security women's facility in Pemberton Township.

Goebel appeared yesterday before Superior Court Judge Thomas S. Smith Jr. in Mount Holly. Bail was kept at $75,000. She also was barred from having contact with any minor child.

Goebel's husband phoned police on Jan. 24 after he found evidence - reportedly sexually explicit photos - that led him to suspect she was having "inappropriate relations" with a student.

The victim is a 16-year-old boy who attends a school for students with special needs, according to media reports.

First Assistant Prosecutor Raymond E. Milavsky yesterday said there were "multiple episodes" of assaults. To maintain the anonymity of the victim, officials of the Prosecutor's Office said they would not release the name of the school or the victim's hometown.

Continued at Philly.com

Note from Gag:
Click here to download, in PDF format, the news release issued by the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office.

Judge drops most serious charge against Maria Zurita

Judge drops most serious charge against former teacher’s aide sex case

Goshen – A New Windsor woman, who was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy last year, has had the most serious charge against her dismissed as her trial continues.

Orange County Court Judge Nicholas DeRosa threw out the charge of rape in the third degree against Marie Zurita, 29, who was a teacher’s aide at the McQuade Children’s Services school in New Windsor when the incident allegedly occurred over the Memorial Day weekend last spring.

The sole remaining charge against Zurita is endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor.

Continued.

Note from Gag:
This poor kid must have been desperate to mess with her. Not that she isn't lovely for a 29 year old minimum wage worker.

Nude Pics Found By Husband Of Teacher Charged With Sex Assault

The husband of a teacher's aid in Burlington County says he turned her in to police, after suspecting she was having sex with a student.

Police arrested 43-year old Donna Goebel of Westhampton, and charged her with sexual assault.

Goebel helps teach children with special needs.

Matthew Goebel says photos of a young boy in his bedroom and shower turned up on his wife's cell phone. "I knew, I knew it was happening, there were a lot of clues and it was just denial, denial, denial, and it was up to me to gather the evidence. There's no one that would believe me, I mean, who would believe something like this?"

More here.

Note from Gag:
See, it's true. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.