Belvidere, ILLINOIS

Feb 4, 2008 - Loren L. Leoni, 24, a Belvidere High School teacher, is now in custody. Police had been searching for her since Friday. She is accused of having a sexual relationship for several months with a 15-year-old male student.

Police obtained an arrest warrant on Thursday but were unable to locate her at her address. She faces charges of criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse. School Superintendent Michael Houselog reported “inappropriate contact between a teacher and a student,” to Belvidere Police in late December.

Houselog declined to say whether any disciplinary action has been taken against Leoni or even how long she’d been a teacher in the district.

“All the details of past and present employees are private, personnel matters,” Houselog said in a phone interview Friday. “We’ve been cooperating with Rockford Police and the Winnebago County State’s Attorney’s office on this matter. I’m trying not to jeopardize anything.”

The newspaper, however, did some research and found that Leoni earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater. She coached sports at Jane Addams Junior High School in Schaumburg; Whitewater High School in Whitewater, Wis.; and Elkhorn High School in Elkhorn, Wis. She also attended Schaumburg High School, where she was an assistant coach for the boy’s spring volleyball season.

WIFR: (Feb 1)"There's a lot of mixed feelings about this amongst teachers, parents and their students." A Jan 29 story at WIFR generated a lot of comments.

Feb 8 - She was released on bond with conditions.

Judge Richard Lucas granted Leoni permission to move out and in with her parents who live about an hour away, in Cambridge, Wisconsin.

If Leoni attends a family function, Judge Lucas ruled she cannot be left alone with children.

He's also allowing her to go on job interviews in Dane County, since it's believed she no longer works for the Belvidere School District.

Leoni must report to pretrial services once a week. And if she is around young family members, she must give the names and times she'll be around them, also to pretrial services.

Arraignment is scheduled for Feb 28.

ARRAIGNMENT Feb 28 - Leoni pleaded not guilty. A condition of her bond requires her to live with her parents. Assistant State's Attorney Kate Kurtz objected since her parents own and live in a bed and bath and accept children. The case has been handed over to Judge Joe Mcgraw. Leoni will be back in court March 20th. At that time he'll decide who will handle the case. A trial date could be set then, or it will just be a status hearing.