Posted on 02/15/2007 9:01:10 PM PST by Rodney King
Teacher charged with child seduction Suspect turned herself in
By Keith Rhoades | krhoades@reportert.com Thursday February 15, 2007
Martinsville
Martinsville High School English teacher Cynthia Marie Rynard has been charged with child seduction for allegedly having oral sex with a student.
Rynard, 32, turned herself in Wednesday night at the Morgan County Jail. She's being held on no bond prior to her initial court hearing.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed by Martinsville Police Department patrolman Rob Townsend, the alleged contact occurred in the Morgan Monroe Forest.
Rynard has been a teacher at the school for about three years. Rumors had been spread in the school for several weeks, but Rynard was still teaching at the school.
Metropolitan School District of Martinsville Superintendent Ron Furniss said today the alleged incident had been under investigation, but school officials had "not been in communication since this (Rynard's jailing) happened."
Furniss said the school board would meet with its attorney Friday to discuss the situation.
Asked if Rynard would be able to return to the school, Furniss said the attorney for the schools had advised him not to make any additional comments.
When the rumor began circulating at the school in January, MHS Principal Don Alkire said, "I have absolutely no comment on anything like this."
When Rynard was asked about the rumor in mid-January, she said, "It's just a rumor. I have a family too, so I hope you can appreciate that."
According to the probable cause affidavit, the investigation into Rynard's actions began Jan. 17.
Townsend said he was called to the Morgan County Child Protection Services to discuss a rumor that had been circulating around Martinsville High School.
Alkire had notified CPS of the accusation that a 17-year-old student had inappropriate sexual contact with Rynard. The rumor was the student had allowed the teacher to perform oral sex on him so he could receive a better grade in her class, the affidavit states.
Alkire told CPS he had investigated the accusation with several students who might have been discussing the rumor. He said the students denied talking about the incident and that it had never happened.
Alkire said he found out about the rumor because a student told a teacher's aide who then told the head of the school's English department.
Alkire said student allegedly involved in the incident denied it had occurred.
Townsend and CPS investigator Harmony Gist began their own investigation into the incident.
Townsend and Gist questioned some of the students who allegedly been discussing the incident. Those students denied ever making statements about the alleged incident.
The parents of the student refused to allow the investigators to question their child.
Townsend and Gist also questioned the student and Rynard. They denied the incident occurred.
Townsend said the investigation ended then due to a lack of evidence.
The investigation began again Feb. 9 after Townsend received information from Morgan County Prosecutor Steve Sonnega concerning a cell phone Rynard had purchased for the student. According to the information Sonnega had, Rynard also was paying the bills for the cell phone.
On Feb. 12, Townsend asked the student's mother if she or her son had a cell phone. She said he had had a phone, but thought he no longer had one.
Townsend asked her to look around her son's room to see if she could find a phone.
Later that day, the mother called Townsend to say she had found a phone number in her son's bedroom.
She called the number and said it went to voice mail. Townsend called the number and Rynard answered. Townsend said he asked Rynard why a student would have her personal phone number.
Rynard said she had given out her number to "several students." She also told Townsend that other teachers had given their numbers to students.
Rynard was not able to name any of those students that she had given her number to or any teachers that had given their numbers out.
She continued to deny having a sexual relationship with any student, according to the affidavit.
Townsend said that since the phone number had been discovered, he was going to reopen the case.
On Tuesday, the student and his mother came in to discuss the matter.
Townsend said the student told him the school had indicated he would be in trouble with them. Townsend said as for the law, if he told the truth, he would not be in trouble.
Townsend said the student went with another officer to make a statement.
According to his statement, the student said he found Rynard's phone number in a book she loaned him. After finding the number, he called Rynard a few times from his home.
The student said he text messaged her on several occasions. He said they talked about her travels and the places she had been and they talked about getting together.
On Nov. 15, he met Rynard, he said, at a business on Southview Drive. She picked him up in her van and they drove out into the southern part of the county.
The boy said they parked and talked. They began kissing but it was awkward in the front seat of her van so they moved into the back. At one point, the boy said Rynard pulled his pants down and performed oral sex on him.
The boy said he did not ejaculate and that Rynard quit because she had to get back to school.
The student said that was the only time he had met Rynard outside of school.
Townsend, Superintendent Furniss and representatives from CPS met Wednesday to discuss how to protect the student.
Later that day, Rynard met with Townsend and after questioning, confessed to performing oral sex on the student, according to the affidavit.
Rynard admitted she made "a big mistake."
She began cooperating with Townsend and described what had happen.
Rynard asked Townsend to arrest her now but he declined. Townsend told her he would file for a warrant and then she could turn herself in.
Late that night, Rynard came to the police station and asked to be taken into custody. She was transported to the Morgan County Jail.
A no contact order will be issued when she is released from jail that will prohibit Rynard from being around the student.
News Editor Ronald Hawkins and education reporter Hannah Lodge also contributed to this story.
This story will be updated
Find Rynard's 2006 school salary in the Morgan County Salary Database.
First:
Innocent - barely.
Then there is this:
The rumor was the student had allowed the teacher to perform oral sex on him so he could receive a better grade in her class, the affidavit states."
That would make her the most innocent person to ever walk the earth.
Later, however, and I won't highlight it, we find that she didn't finish the job of upping his grade. Which would make her guilty.
bump
Just give her probation.
Until they start actually punishing sex predators there seems to be very little concern on their part in stalking children. The courts are to blame for that.
We can continue to pretend that there's no difference between boys and girls, but the reality of the situation is that boys and girls are in fact affected differently by these sorts of situations.
Since these events seem to be reported or ocurr in groups, I expect two or three more teacher-student sex scandals to hit the news cycle over the next few weeks.
Well, something got upped. So, therefore, innocent.
An interesting phenomenon really. for example, when I look for these stories, I rarely find just 1. It is usually zero, or two or three.
But, we don't really know that they happen in groups, just that they are reported in groups.
Huh? What would be "appropriate" sexual contact?!
I would certainly define starting the job and not finishing it as inappropriate. Perhaps I need to change my verdict to guilty.
probation with time served.
The rumor was the student had allowed the teacher to perform oral sex on him so he could receive a better grade in her class, the affidavit states.
I'm bad, I would have been an A student in her class.
That sex isn't sex.
—William Jefferson Clinton
If this is the case concerning the student, This will say volumes about our culture.
...Rynard quit because she had to get back to school.
Very frustrated jury....
"She seldom finishes what she starts!"
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