We need to hear that sanctimonious line from Sen. Finestein and Sen. Specter about the need to make sure people don't try to "impose their morality" through the law again. [irony]
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.
I was trying to look up the legalities on this. It was not easy, but I finally found out that the age of consent in NJ is 16 except when in a postion of athority. That means this guy is toast. A long time ago someone on FR posted a link to a site called ageofconsent.com
They had all that kind of info there, but something happened to that site. tring to go there first gives you an expired certificate message. Then if you go past that you get a warning that the web address might be spoofed(Remember that security flaw). Now I wonder what is going on there. There never was any certificate required in the past anyways. Sounds like something sinister to me.
Are you refering to the teacher? If so, he is a she.
You can thank the liberal mindset toted by most these day's.
The Union is just an out.
I can envision the day that one could be a felon just by winking at another for an attorney could somehow find foul intent in the action.
He never married and I noticed as we got older that he continued to day young girls. He has dated some pretty striking girls too. In fact one of them was a former Miss World from Venezuela.
As he began to approach 60 he finally decided to get married. Trouble is he can no longer have his pick of the younger girls so he goes to Japan and marries a model there who is only 18.
I really like him but he is still a teenager in many respects.
I think that was Pamela Rogers or something like that. From a small town in Tennessee. I think she was a coach at an elementary school and her victim was 11 or 12 years old. She was 27.
We need to hear that sanctimonious line from Sen. Finestein and Sen. Specter about the need to make sure people don't try to "impose their morality" through the law again. [irony]
I'm not very familiar with private industry so I ask you to cite the applicable law. Courts have determined that public employees be denied pay without due process. That includes a hearing and representation. When you don't want them at work while they are being investigated, you have to pay them. After you make a determination on a course of action you can stop paying them or fire them.
having sex with someone 14 and over is usually not considered pedophilia legally. In most states it's stauatory rape or have sex with a minor over 14. Our history is that post pubescent girls were allowed to be married. Sex with a prepubescent would be pedophilia.
I'd risk it.
What happens in private schools when a teacher is accused of molestation? Clue, teachers are not automatically suspended with pay.
that's why i asked
Whine - do I have to ping this out?
that's "can't be denied"
Possibly, but only if a duly passed statute of their state made repayment of wages from government employment an additional criminal penalty for crimes committed on the job or by abuse of authority derived from government employment.
Start advocating such a change to the laws. Otherwise if found guilty, they get the same punishment as everyone else convicted of the same crime.
OOps, I forgot to mention I was in the Marines.........
Was she an officer?
It sounds like the gym instructor was between the ages of 24-26 while she was luring these teenaged boys into her web. It's a crime the youngsters may not recognize yet, but God only knows the older boys were high-fiving each other after the deed. They probably viewed it as quite a sexual conquest.
~ Blue Jays ~
Not to nit-pick (but I will anyway:-), but a pedophile is attracted to pre-pubescent kids. I'd hardly rate a 17 year old young man as pre-pubescent.
One of the reasons why women who engage in affairs like this are not punished as severely is that society expects young men to chase after such assignations. Young women are supposed to be more demure, being chased (yet remaining chaste). It is a societal stereotype that once may have been valid, but (sadly) appears to have been coarsened out of our collective lives.
I remember a certain chemistry teacher who fueled some of my most interesting daydreams as a teenager... But she was modest, demure, and entirely proper throughout our one-year association.
It seems that some young teachers may be trying to stay young by injection, so to speak.
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