St. Louis, MISSOURI

Oct 2007 - Judge recuses himself because a retired judge asked him not to send her to jail.
Nov 2007 : Judge allows guilty plea to be withdrawn.
June 2008:Trial: Her lawyer says Heminghaus was forced into sex acts in her classroom and elsewhere and too humiliated to report it.
July 2008 - Guilty of three counts of second-degree statutory sodomy, two counts of a teacher having sex with a student and two counts of plying minors with alcohol.
Sept 2008 - Sentenced to to six years in prison.




When she's old enough to be your mother grandmother.

July 9, 2007 -
Cathy Heminghaus, 47, special needs teacher at Ferguson Middle School, pleaded no contest to performing oral sex on four of her students at the middle school.

Besides the 21 counts of statutory sodomy, Heminghaus also pleaded no contest to two counts of a teacher having sex with a student and two counts of plying minors with alcohol.

Quarenghi said the victims told police that some of oral sex acts took place in a classroom at the middle school while one boy would serve as lookout for another. The prosecutor said the victims were under Heminghaus' jurisdiction for minor behavorial problems, and school officials have described them as basically good kids. They ranged in age between 13 and 15 when Heminghaus performed oral sex on them, police said.

TT - Ferguson Middle School is 79% black. It rates a 2 from Greatschools.com

SENTENCING DELAYED: Sept 14 - Heminghaus pleaded no contest to 25 counts, 21 including statutory sodomy with boys ages 13 to 15. The encounters with her Ferguson Middle School students allegedly took place in 2005.

JUDGE RECUSES HIMSELF Sentencing was delayed when the judge recused himself.

Judge David Lee Vincent III decided to remove himself from the case because his predecessor, retired Judge Kenneth M. Weinstock, wrote a personal letter to Vincent asking the judge to not impose jail time for Heminghaus.

Weinstock wrote the letter supporting Heminghaus because he is friends with the former teacher's husband. After a pre-hearing conference in the judge's chambers, Vincent said from the bench that the letter "doesn't look good," and it called into question whether he could fairly sentence Heminghaus. A new judge will take over the case for sentencing

WITHDRAWS GUILTY PLEA Nov 16, 2007 - St. Louis County Circuit Judge Michael T. Jamison ruled this afternoon that Cathy Heminghaus, 47, of Ferguson, could withdraw the plea she had entered on July 9 before Judge David Lee Vincent III. A trial date is set for Dec 13.

TRIAL June 25 - The trial opened today. The trial of a former Special School District teacher at the Ferguson-Florissant Middle School -- accused of being a sexual predator -- began in St. Louis County Circuit Court this morning with widely diverse opening statements by prosecutor John Quarenghi and defense attorney Susan Roach.

TRIAL June 26 - Heminghaus' lawyer told a St. Louis County jury Wednesday that Heminghaus was forced into sex acts in her classroom and elsewhere and too humiliated to report it.

A friend and fellow teacher testified that Heminghaus never mentioned intimidation or force in confessing that she had performed oral sex on two boys at Ferguson Middle School. She said Heminghaus told her the night of Jan. 11, 2006, of participating in the sex acts in 2005-06. The friend reported it at 7:30 the next morning to supervisors at the school.

The witness said Heminghaus told her she performed oral sex on one teen while the other stood watch at the classroom door, then the boys switched places. Prosecutor John Quarenghi alleged in opening statements in court in Clayton that Heminghaus had sexual encounters with four teens, 13 to 15, in her classroom, her car and a park near her home. Quarenghi said Heminghaus had performed oral sex not only on two students but on two other boys outside of school. All four teens are listed as state's witnesses.

Best line: Heminghaus' upper-middle-class background left her unprepared for dealing with the "behaviorally disordered" students, her attorney said.

June 28, 2008 Principal: Teacher showed no change Trial continues

TRIAL CONTINUES July 2 - Heminghaus took the stand and told a jury Tuesday that one teen forced her into oral sex once in her classroom at Ferguson Middle School.

She feared that the teen who forced her into the classroom incident would harm her son or daughter so she did let him and his friends drive her car, she said.

During the rides, she said, the teens forced her to sit in a back seat that folded down into the trunk, put her coat on top of her, played music as loudly as they could and drove for hours around north St. Louis County.This happened about 15 times, she estimated.

She said she had given them money, bought them food and hid in the trunk when they stopped to visit friends, to avoid being forced to perform sex acts.

She said she had given them money, bought them food and hid in the trunk when they stopped to visit friends, to avoid being forced to perform sex acts.

GUILTY VERDICT July 3 - The jury found Heminghaus guilty of three counts of second-degree statutory sodomy, two counts of a teacher having sex with a student and two counts of plying minors with alcohol. She was found not guilty on a charge of first-degree statutory sodomy and on 17 other statutory sodomy counts..

Her husband is a senior vice president at Heartland Bank.

RECOMMENDATION July 3 - AP story says that the jurors recommended Thursday that Heminghaus receive two years for each of five three counts involving sexual misconduct.

A judge set a sentencing hearing for Heminghaus on Aug. 20. The judge will decide whether the two-year sentences will be served at the same time or back-to-back.

SENTENCED September 3 - Following the jury recommendation, the judge sentenced Heminhaus to six years in prison for performing sex acts on teenage students.

Roseville, MICHIGAN

You won't believe what her defense attorney said. Or maybe you will. But this is a new low in sleaze.
July 2 - Sentenced to 3 years' probation for sex with a teenage boy.

One time during their relationship, Batkins told him she was pregnant with his child and that she would "have it." "I was nervous, I was scared," he said

ARRAIGNED Sept 24, 2007 - Janelle Batkins, 42, French teacher at Roseville High, was arraigned a on two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

When she's old enough to be your mother.

Police said she allegedly "had an affair" with a 17-year-old boy from last summer to the end of the school year. Batkins is married, with two children, both boys.

The boy’s mother contacted the Roseville police in July after finding evidence of the relationship on her son’s computer. The teacher was in a position of authority which makes it a criminal offense.

Detroit Free Press subhead: Disturbing trend, different stigma for male, female teachers, experts say

PRELIMINARY N0v 8 - At a preliminary, the student testified. After his testimony, the judge amended the original charge of two counts of criminal sexual conduct to nine charges. Nearly 50 friends, former students and teachers showed up in court to support Batkins. [TT - which helps to intimidate the victim.] See TT - Link

She will be arraigned Nov 19.

SLEAZE, PURE SLEAZE Nov 9 - The Macomb Daily reported on the testimony with some revealing exchanges about how a teacher's lawyer defends their client.

During [defense attorney David] [Griem's cross-examination, the man said that at one point near the end of their relationship he "was feeling horrible. I was feeling it was all my fault."

Griem retorted, "It is all your fault."

Later in questioning, was this,

The man said that he had shared text messages over the computer and his phone with three of his friends, to which Griem asked if he that made him feel "important" or a "real stud" among his friends.

"No more than I already am," he replied.

The man acknowledged that he and his mother have contacted a civil attorney in connection with the case.

It was unclear by the man's testimony when school officials first learned of the relationship. He testified that he told a male teacher, but said, "I didn't get any help there."

One time during their relationship, Batkins told him she was pregnant with his child and that she would "have it." "I was nervous, I was scared," he said.
TT - reaction.

NOT GUILTY PLEA Nov 19 - A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for Dec 13. Her attorney entered a not guilty plea in the arraignment today.

GUILTY PLEA May 30, 2008 - Batkins pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct. While the relationship was consensual non-coerced -- and the age of consent in Michigan is 16 -- Batkins was charged under a Michigan law that makes it a crime for teachers to have sex with students, regardless of their age. She will have to register as a sex offender [for life, we hope.] Batkins will be sentenced July 2.

SLEAZE II: Her attorney said the law is faulty, but the plea agreement was the best avenue for his client.

"If it wasn't for this statute, it would have been no harm, no foul."

TT - Anyone who doesn't see the harm in a 42-year-old woman manipulating a 17-year-old boy and then allowing her attorney to claim it was the boy's fault, is, frankly, scum.

SENTENCED (SORTA) July 2 - Batkins was sentenced to three years' probation and must register as a sex offender.

Batkins waived her right to speak at her sentencing. However, her husband, Brian Batkins, addressed the courtroom filled with Janelle Batkins' family, friends and former co-workers who primarily all wore yellow, her favorite color.

The victim's mother also addressed the court with her son at her side.

"As parents, this situation has been a nightmare," said the mother, 43. "Everyone thinks their children are safe in school. This has become an epidemic of teachers having a relationship with students. She doesn't think she did anything wrong.

"As a community, we should not tolerate this."

Prosecutor Molly Zappitell said the prosecutor's office sought "incarceration" in this case, whether it was prison, jail or a tether. She said she was "very surprised" by the sentencing because of the case's circumstances. "It wasn't a one-time incident," Zappitell said. "That is a serious offense."

TT - We will look for the name of the lowercase judge™.
The lowercase judge™ is Macomb County Circuit Court judge Mark Switalski who said,

“(She’s) an ideal candidate for probation based on her lack of record and prior history,” Switalski said. “She’s clearly made a terrible mistake. She’s been humiliated and ridiculed. She’s shamed before her sons. I don’t know what the effect has been on her marriage.”

Each count is a 15-year felony. Switalski’s decision not to sentence her to jail time or put her on a tether also came down after he earlier read a report from a doctor who evaluated her. The judge did not read the report in the courtroom. “He does not view her as a predator,” the judge said.

As for the mother, she said her son couldn’t go away to college like he wanted, electing to attend Macomb Community College.

“He can’t sleep at night. He is so irritable,” she said. “He got harassed at school, college, work.” The case attracted so much attention, the family pulled their younger son out of the Roseville Community Schools district.

TT - Picture of Batkins with her husband here. We're looking for a picture for the lowercase judge™.

A lowercase judge™ is one undeserving of the honorific capitialization of a title.

Coral Gables, FLORIDA

How can you explain the surge in middle-aged, female teachers having sex with teenagers? Oversexed comes to mind. We're going back to calling it Mommy Sex - when she's old enough to be your mother.

June 7, 2008 -
Christine Jouini, 38, an 11th and 12th grade teacher at the Center Academy, was arrested after police learned she had been involved in a sexual relationship with one of her male students for more than a year. The relationship began when he was 16.

Jouini was charged with three counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor.

The victim recently confided to a teacher that he had previously had a sexual relationship with a teacher. That teacher notified the state child abuse hotline.

The boy stayed overnight when her husband was not home.
Photo BSO
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A posted comment at the story:

As if the good teachers needed any more negative publicity. Isn't there some kind of psycho-test to see the tendency to do something like this? As a teacher of 8 years now, I have NO idea why a grown woman would have an interest in a high schooler or even more so, a middle schooler. Are these women just desperate for a need to feel attractive? I keep thinking maybe that's what it is, some unnaturally strong need to feel attractive, and it doesn't matter who it comes from. Sick.

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June 7 - Enterprising KVAL13 news listed the schools where she has taught in the 2007-2008 school year. And the number of days she has substituted in 2006-2007 and 2007-2008.

Rainier, WASHINGTON

Trashy teacher sentenced.
When he's young enough to be your son.

Six months in jail and three additional counts to be heard yet in court. NEWEST sentencing: 360 days in jail.

Nov 29, 2006 - Christine Marie Johanson, 35, a teachers aide, was arrested in September and charged with raping a 15-year-old boy. She pleaded NOT*** guilty, but investigators are widening the case.

Johanson, a married mother of two, was fired from the Rainier School District Sept. 7 when the allegations were first raised.

UPDATE: Correction thanks to a poster. She pleaded not guilty.

UPDATE: (Dec 22) At a pretrial conference, no plea agreement was reached. A second conference is scheduled for Feb 1. If no agreement can be reached a trial date will be set.

ALFORD PLEA July 17, 2007 - Johanson entered an Alford Plea (No Contest) last week to one count of third-degree rape. There are charges pending in Oregon to which she is expected to plead guilty to three counts of third-degree rape.

Hallin said that police reports said that Johanson -- who worked with the boy daily in her resource room -- would drive the boy home after he was suspended from school. She said some of the suspensions were for dress code violations, and Johanson and the boy would arrange when he should wear his pants too low and get suspended. The boy told investigators they would then go have sex.

Prosecutors are hoping for 30 months. Sentencing is scheduled for August 29.

SENTENCED: August 30 - Johanson was sentenced wa to six months in jail on Wednesday and still faces more jail time on additional charges. Johanson said she had a sexual relationship with the boy for five months while she worked at Hudson Park Elementary School in Rainier.

Johanson and her husband were the first to arrive in the Cowlitz County courtroom and were visibly shaken, even before the judge handed down the sentence

The victim's mother took the judge's offer to speak out to the courtroom. She said people have no idea of the pain her family is going through.

"I can't even go to the gas station without somebody saying something to me about 'how dare I do this to this person,'" she said, motioning toward Johanson. "Well, you know what? How dare this person do this to me?"

She added that her son had to switch schools because of the case.

"He can no longer be in football," she said. "He no longer gets to go to the prom and everything else because we had to put him in an alternative school. There's been a lot of things he had to give up because of this."

Johanson also faces three additional counts of third-degree rape in Oregon and will be in a Columbia County court on Friday where she is expected to plead guilty as well.

SENTENCED Oct 4 - Christine Johanson pleaded guilty to third degree rape charges and was sentenced Wednesday to 360 days in jail.

Longview Daily News: The former Rainier teacher's aide was ordered to surrender herself to the county jail Thursday at 5 p.m. to start the first of four consecutive 90-day jail terms. No reductions of time are possible, [Judge Ted] Grove said.

Kristin Carrico, Rainier School District Special Education Director and principal of the district's North Columbia Academy charter school, testified that Johanson's actions had greatly upset the district's special education staff."The staff saw it as a betrayal of trust," she said.

"They were charged with keeping kids safe. They wonder what they could have done better, and they are upset it happened on their watch."

After discovery of Johanson's relationship with the boy, Carrico said, the boy acted out inappropriately in class and would shout that he should get "special privileges because he'd had sex with a teacher."

The victim's mother soon moved him to another school district. Charlotte Rosen, a licensed counselor with experience in sexual abuse treatment, has been the boy's therapist for a year."He has had a decrease in self-esteem," she said. "He covers that by swaggering and boasting."

Rosen said the victim told her he feels he has been branded."He feels that everyone knows about it and it will follow him the rest of his life," she said. "He has lost many things. He lost the chance to play football, to go on a regular date with a girl, to go to the prom and to graduate in the regular way."

Steve Jensen, a therapist who has been treating sex offenders for 34 years, also spoke.

Jensen said female sex offenders tend to blame the victim in some way and that society does not force females to take full responsibility."If a 30-year-old man was involved with a 15-year-old girl, people would clearly see there was something wrong," he said.

Johanson's husband also spoke. They have two daughters.

Farmington, UTAH

When she's old enough to be your mother.

July 16, 2007 -
Kathryn Louise Parmley, 49, a Davis School District speech and language pathologist, was sentenced to one year in jail - with work release privileges - and three years' probation after pleading guilty to sexual battery on a 17-year-old male student. The battery charge was a misdemeanor that precluded sex offender registration.

The judge, however, was concerned that she did not take responsibility for her actions. He made part of the sentence a condition

forbidding her from being around anyone under age 18 including her 4-year-old grandson

, whom she had been tending three times a week.

The judge accepted a recommendation from Adult Probation and Parole that Parmley get treatment along with a polygraph test so that she acknowledges what exactly occurred and her role in it. Otherwise, Memmott said, the information he has indicates Parmley is at an "elevated risk" of doing something like this again.At the time of her arrest, Parmley, is married to Rich Parmley, a Weber County prosecutor.

At the time of her arrest, her lawyer had this defense, "She's not doing well with it at all. She loves her job, she has a master's degree and she's very capable. It's been very, very difficult. It's a difficult situation all around."
-------------------
License revoked for five years.

Gilbert, ARIZONA

Sentenced to 10 years and lifetime parole.

Jan 31, 2007 - Jeri Perez, 38, a South Valley Junior High School student teacher, has has been arrested on suspicion of having sex with a 14-year-old boy.

Perez met the boy and his family through her work at the school. A preliminary hearing is scheduled Feb 9.

Full name: Jeri Deanne Perez

May 9 - Perez pleaded guilty to three felony counts of attempted sexual contact with a minor.
When she's old enough to be your mother.

She will be sentenced June 15. She will be required to register as a sex offender and will be placed on lifetime, supervised probation.

SENTENCED June 15 - Perez was sentenced to 10 years and lifetime probation for three counts of attempted sexual contact with a minor. Charming detail:

The 14-year-old Gilbert boy, who was not one of her students, positively identified Perez by describing a tattoo on her lower abdomen and a pierced navel.

He was 14-years-old.

Strongsville, OHIO

When she's old enough to be your mother.

First reported Mar 6, 2007 -
The trial of Christine Scarlett, 39, substitute teacher at Strongville High School, was to begin today, but has been postponed till April.

She is the Strongsville teacher who had a baby with a 17-year-old student. It began with a Win a Date with a Teacher contest and ice cream. The custody battle led to even more headlines.

Interested Participant is predicting probation.

May 13 - With her trial scheduled to being on Monday, Scarlett pleaded guilty Friday to five felony charges of having sex with a 17-year-old captain of the Strongsville High School football team when the relationship began in 2002. She bore him a son the next year.

About 6 p.m. Friday, in a last- ditch attempt to avoid trial, Scarlett pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual battery and two counts of disseminating obscene materials to juveniles. She originally faced 18 felony sexual battery charges.

Any thoughts Scarlett had about denying the criminal relationship were precluded by a DNA test that showed Bradigan was the father of her son and by stacks of X-rated photos of the couple snapped by his high school buddies.

Punishment was not an element of the plea deal; that will be entirely up to the judge.

The student has a hearing problem and a learning deficiency. They share custody of the boy. She is the mother of two other children and has reconciled with her husband.

No sentencing date given. Slideshow of the two.

SENTENCED June 12 - Scarlett was sentenced to three days in jail, followed by 180 days of house arrest and five years' probation. The victim spoke.

Steven Bradigan told the judge that Scarlett tricked him into having an affair to become pregnant. His words caused her to break into tears.

"You were not interested in what was good for me," he said. "I feel like I was used and I was a stupid jerk for not realizing it then."

TT - She pleaded guilty to five felony charges. Reportedly, the judge said she has no other criminal record and has obligations as a mother.

ODD NOTE: The boy's parents are in a one-year diversion program after pleading guilty to misdemeanors for failing to report "their son's affair."

Clinton, SOUTH CAROLINA

When she's old enough to be your mother.

Mar 28, 2007 - Wendie Schweikert, 37, a teacher at E.B. Morse Elementary School, was arrested in February 2006, charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct after being accused of having sexual relations with an 11-year-old student.

The boy's mother notified police who investigated and uncovered evidence that Schweikert and the child, a fifth-grade student, had intercourse after class once, and the teacher performed sexual acts with him two other times. Schweikert resigned.
----------------
TT - the AP story hints that it might be racism. Schweikert is white, the boy was black.

"If this had been black teachers, they would not be out of jail right now," said Corinnie Young, a 49-year-old bookstore employee who is black.

NAACP president quote, irrelevant textile mills history, more nonsense, a few supporters, and ending with another quote from pick-a-fight parent.

Predictably, the expanded version of this AP story was headlined as, "In small Southern U.S. county, two white women teachers accused of sex with black boys" in the International Herald-Tribune, the New York Times-owned Paris publication.

For the international audience, there's the local black activist quote,

He suggested that blacks in town are too afraid to speak out: "There's a long history of intimidation and it's a sin. It's unholy in Laurens County to speak out.

Some of South Carolina problems with teachers can be illustrated at this TT entry. Or by searching the label South Carolina.

However, screaming headlines are more exciting. Plus, there's the added bonus that when the new teacher conduct standards in S.C. are implemented next year, agitprop newspapers and activists can claim credit.

Update: CNN has upped the stakes. Now it's not only Racism, it's officially Racism and a Sex Scandal. I would suggest their story, the AP story, and activists suddently becoming, ah, active, are more related the media annual celebration of Black History Month, local political trials and backlash, and educational reforms underway, but that would be cynical.
[Bumped.]

UPDATE June 1 - Schweikert was sentenced to 10 years.