Posted on 04/26/2005 8:32:56 PM PDT by freepatriot32
SOUTH BEND A former aide at Greene Intermediate Center is in jail after her arrest Tuesday on nine felony charges related to inappropriate sexual activities with special education students she supervised.
Schmeca White, 27, of the 800 block of Huey Street, was taken into custody at her home shortly before noon Tuesday.
Chief Deputy Prosecutor Ken Cotter said White is accused of performing various sexual acts or causing students to perform sex acts in a classroom during their lunch period.
The reported incidents occurred during November and December while the teacher with whom White worked was away from the classroom.
The charges filed Tuesday involve seven students between the ages of 11 and 15, Cotter said. School officials said they were special education students.
White is accused of doing such things as touching a 14-year-old girls private parts and holding down the same girl while another student touched her.
The former paraprofessional also is charged with giving a lap dance to a 15-year-old boy and making an 11-year-old boy commit a sexual act on her. She also is alleged to have stripped and touched her naked body provocatively in front of the class.
Students also claimed that White had choked a 13-year-old girl to the point that an ambulance was called. White reportedly claimed the girl had an asthma attack, court documents show.
The charges White faces include two counts of child molesting, two counts of sexual misconduct with a minor, sexual battery, criminal deviate conduct and battery.
She also is charged with vicarious sexual gratification and performing sexual conduct in the presence of minors.
I hope I never see another case like it, Cotter said Tuesday.
Sometimes, you really do wonder whats going on in this world, said Supt. Joan Raymond of the South Bend Community School Corp.
You trust your children are safe
Kim Gerencser is the parent of a seventh-grader who attends Greene. She said she was shocked when she saw television news reports about the allegations.
I didnt know whether or not to run to school and grab my kid, Gerencser said. Its scary to realize it can happen in our school. You trust that your children are safe when they go to school.
Despite the incident, Gerencser said she still has plenty of confidence in the staff at Greene and believes they are just as shocked as she is.
The two-month investigation revealed White exerted control over the children with threats, according to Cotter.
White is reported to have threatened to harm the students or cause trouble at school if they disclosed what had occurred in the classroom, Cotter said.
The prosecutor said he believed the students took the threats to heart because they came from an authority figure.
Seven to 10 students were normally in the special education classroom during the lunch period, which is about a half-hour long, said Lt. Mark Reihl, an investigator with the Family Violence & Special Victims Unit.
This particular special education class was not integrated with the general student population, Raymond said Tuesday.
No red flags
White was fired in January for an unrelated theft incident, according to Raymond. Criminal charges have not been filed over that matter, details of which Raymond did not reveal.
Students spoke up after they realized White was not returning to the school, Cotter said.
A social worker at Greene contacted St. Joseph County police Feb. 18, which started the investigation.
According to Raymond, a criminal check on each prospective employee of the school corporation is run. Candidates also go through an interview process.
Raymond said a criminal check was run on White when she was hired in 2003 and showed no cause for alarm.
The school did nothing wrong, Raymond said. We have one priority above all others, and that is the safety of the children in our care.
Regrettably, individuals who have problems along these lines tend to go where children go, Raymond said. Its very, very regrettable. Very, very sad.
Cotter praised the prompt reporting of school personnel and the cooperation of the students, parents, Greene special education teachers Casey Ickes and Chris Lorenz and school social worker Jennifer Weinberg.
They made the proper response, Cotter said. Theyve been very helpful.
Reihl had to tell the parents what had happened to their children.
They were upset and angry, Reihl said of the students parents, who had no idea about the incidents until he told them.
Reihl, who has children, said he didnt blame them. Id react the same way.
Whites bond is set at $10,000. She is scheduled to make her initial court appearance Wednesday.
If convicted of all the charges, she could receive a maximum sentence of 112 years in prison.
Staff writer Marti Goodlad Heline: mheline@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6327 Staff writer Michael Wanbaugh: mwanbaugh@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6176
english words cant begin to describe how discusted I am right now
Well, you could spell "disgusted" right.
but Schmeca sure has some 'splainin to do.
public school ping for you if you can stomach reading the article
Whew! I thought maybe she handcuffed them after they trashed her classroom. No big deal. They're just gonna have sex anyway.
This woman needs to be in a mental hospital. She is sick.
Shocked doesn't cut it. What happened to oversight? I can't believe this woman still has confidence in this school. Maybe because it is convenient for her to leave her kid there.
[You trust that your children are safe when they go to school.]
No comment.
Moral Absolutes Ping.
Yet another disgusting article about a disgusting subhuman fiend - and a public screwel teacher - who sexually molested children. These articles are just pouring out like sewage out of a broken pipe.
Why is this happening? When a whole generation or two of children grow up being taught explicitly through sex-ed, and slightly more subtly through media indoctrination, that there are no morals, that right and wrong do not exist any more, and that the only guide for proper sexual behavior is whatever feels good (and if it doesn't feel good at first like anal sex, just keep trying) - then more and more of this hateful behavior will happen.
Anyone who sends their children to public school is playing Russian roulette with them.
Let me know if you want on/off this pinglist.
Note: these are special ed children again. Not only is it hateful that this subhuman sexually molested children under her care, but they were more helpless than ordinary children. Child molesters like this should be executed.
Glad it isn't just me.
IF she done-did it, hang her; but, I would like something more to go on than 'just' after-the-fact allegations by the students.
I DO remember McMartin Day Care Center.
I also remember all too many real cases recently.
ping
Public school, authority, minority, sexual deviance.
Liberal pillars!
Don't know if this qualifies for "homosexual agenda" but I thought it worth a read anyway.
LOL, what?
You DID see the perp, right?
Not that intreguing now, is it? I'd rather have been one of the guys at Abu G with Lendy England. At least she had a kinky uniform and a pouty lip ;)
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