yeah... i guess with looks like that, it's prolly just tooo hard to do it the old fashioned way and sit in a bar till some legal age guy comes along, and fills you full of food and booze before you slither into bed eh???
Posted on 09/18/2005 1:44:04 PM PDT by magellan
HAMMONTON -- A Hammonton High School physical education/health teacher was arrested last Wednesday evening and charged with official misconduct and sexual crimes involving three male students, Atlantic County Prosecutor Jeffrey S. Blitz said.
Traci J. Tapp, 28, was arrested without incident at her home in Leon Court in the Atco section of Waterford Township by officers from the prosecutor's office and the Hammonton Police Department.
Tapp was charged with one count of sexual assault, two counts of aggravated criminal sexual contact and three counts of official misconduct.
She was arraigned before Superior Court Judge Michael Donio. She later posted $25,000 bond and was released, authorities said.
Tapp allegedly sexually fondled one 17-year-old male student whom she invited to her office in the girl's locker room at the high school between January and February 2001, according to the prosecutor's office.
She allegedly invited another 17-year-old boy to her home and both engaged in sexual acts at her direction between June 1 and June 30, 2001, Blitz said.
Tapp invited another 16-year-old male student to her home in 2003 and they engaged in multiple acts of sexual intercourse during one night, according to the prosecutor.
A mother of one of the victims brought the allegations to the attention of school officials in March. School officials then contacted Hammonton police, who began an investigation. The Atlantic County Prosecutor's Crimes Against Children Unit worked on a joint investigation with the Hammonton police. Crimes Against Children investigator Mary Elliot worked with Hammonton police Detective Joel Frederico and Officer Richard Jones under the supervision of Crimes Against Children Unit head Sgt. Alane Spencer, according to the prosecutor.
The Board of Education suspended Tapp with pay in March 2005 when the allegations came to light, Blitz said.
Police Chief Frank Ingemi said last week that the prosecutor's office took its time with the investigation, which lasted nearly six months, but believed that it may not be over.
"If a further investigation is needed, they'll advise us and we'll do what we have to do," Ingemi said. "I believe the whole situation may have to be looked at further. That decision is up to the prosecutor. When you do an investigation you want to make sure that it is complete. Maybe there are some more roads to go down with this."
Superintendent Mary Lou DeFrancisco issued a statement on behalf of the district on Thursday afternoon:
"We are working through the board solicitor for their advice and guidance," DeFrancisco said. She declined further comment.
Hammonton Board of Education President Loretta Rehmann said she was pleased there was some resolution in the matter, which had been lingering over the district for most of the year.
"We will follow the recommendations of our solicitor," Rehmann said of any job actions against Tapp.
At the high school Thursday afternoon, the girls soccer team, which was previously coached by Tapp, was running through drills in preparation for an upcoming game.
Asked about her former coach, senior Samantha Candario said, "I liked her as a coach. She did make us run a lot." As for Tapp's alleged actions, "I just don't think it was fair to the team."
Assistant coach Carey Speziali declined comment as per instruction from school administration and directed media away from the practice field.
Official misconduct and sexual assault are second-degree crimes that carry a five-to-10 year prison term upon conviction. Aggravated criminal sexual contact carries a three-to-five year prison sentence upon conviction, the prosecutor's office said.
Tapp was hired as a physical education/health education teacher at the high school in January 2001. She also served as head coach of the girls soccer team. She was a former soccer standout at Cherokee High School and later at the College of New Jersey in Trenton.
This is not the first time the Hammonton School District has had to deal with such a matter.
In 2003, bus driver Rodolfo Perez, 47, of Hammonton was sentenced to eight years in prison for sexually assaulting a teen on his school bus. He also provided alcohol to another teen at a New Year's Eve Party in 2001.
EVen an oversexed woman, especially if she's somewhat attractive, shouldn't have any trouble finding a partner. I think there's something that goes deeper in these women. Of course, in alot of societies, males/females any time after puberty are potential marriage partners.
I kind of think (of course, this is me, nothing I've ever seen written about) that they are probably fairly immature, and may be kind of stuck in a high school mentality. Goodness, I taught kids this age, and all I can say is ICK! Fortunately for me, I think they felt the same way about me! :)
susie
The thing which amazes me about all these female teachers having sex with their students is just about every one of them are quite attractive and would have no trouble at all attracting men their own age.
No Didn't mean it that way
Are all Trapps male teachers friends all homosexuals, which drives young hot female teachers to hit on younger male students.
That's Leslie Tapp. She is not related to this story.
Maybe that's it, they're bored with men of their age cohort and need something new to spice things up. Maybe despite sterotype, a lot of adult men are clingy and they don't want strings. Or maybe they're just into teenage boys.
Wow, a woman gym teacher chasing after boys! That must be a first.
They dont want men , they want boys. They are Pedophiles.
They suffer from the same perversion pedophile men suffer.
Its just that men serve time and women dont. Many of the young girls who had sex with their teachers were willing participants, they did it for grades or just because they wanted sex, yet they crucify the male pedophile, while they leer at the female pedophile. Its the old double standard.
I just checked the Smoking Gun. Nothing there yet, but I am sure there will be in a week or so.
-ccm
yeah... i guess with looks like that, it's prolly just tooo hard to do it the old fashioned way and sit in a bar till some legal age guy comes along, and fills you full of food and booze before you slither into bed eh???
I can't find any info. regarding her marital status. I can only hope she didn't have a husband and or kids to humiliate.
"They don't want men , they want boys. They are Pedophiles."
LOL, YOU ARE FUNNY.
I had a 38 year old girl friend when I was 17...Was she a Pedophile?
OOps, I forgot to mention I was in the Marines.........
YES.
Here she comes now sayin' Mony Mony
Shoot 'em down turn around come on Mony
Hey she give me love and I feel all right now
Come on you gotta toss and turn
And feel all right, yeah I feel all right
I said yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah...
The one in the hand here is more than worth the two in the bush.
Another one here!!!
TIGARD, Ore. -- A Tigard High School basketball and track coach is accused of sexually abusing a student.
Police say 22-year-old Kathleen O'Brien Erickson met the 15-year-old victim last year.
Erickson was arrested Aug. 29 for allegedly giving the girl marijuana. Officer Jim Wolf said the girl's parents, as well as police, told her to stay away from the victim.
The teen ran away from home Monday. Erickson's car was spotted Wednesday at Cook Park near the high school. The school resource officer allegedly found Erickson and the girl at the park, and further investigation led to the sex-abuse charges.
While Tigard High School officials do not believe that Erickson made contact with other students, parents were notified.
The superintendent told KOIN News 6 that a background check of Erickson had turned up no problems.
Erickson faces charges of sex abuse and custodial interference. She posted bail and was released from the Washington County Jail.
Another!
Thanks--that'll teach me to look more carefully!
First off, I am not saying this is right. But, unless the mother who filed is the mother of the first boy who says he was 'fondled', I am finding it very hard to believe that either of the other two screwed around with her and then told their moms. Come on.
She'll get off (absolutely no pun) lightly while a male teacher doing the same CRIME will get 5 times the penalty.
I really do not understand older women who go after teenage boys. Or older men who go after teenage girls. I did see one of these women on TV - can't remember which one - but she was very lovely. They showed her sitting in the back of a vehicle. She was wearing some sort of funky hat and chewing gum. Suddenly it occurred to me that she looked and acted like a teen herself. Perhaps these older women have some case of arrested development. I do know a local woman who is well into her forties and one day she told me she was really trying hard to lose weight because she missed men looking at her. I repeated this conversation to another friend who also knows her and she said "Don't you get the feeling sometimes that you are talking to an overaged teenager". So, yes, I do believe, somewhere along the way, these folks simply stop growing mentally into mature adults. She was right! I could never put my finger on why I felt there was something strange about my conversations with this lady, but they were different than talking with another adult. They will someday be sixty and still think they are teens.
"Tapp invited another 16-year-old male student to her home in 2003 and they engaged in multiple acts of sexual intercourse during one night..."
Multiple!!! Don't ya just hate showoffs??
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