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Some details on Winkidinks highjinks:

Saturday, December 10, 2005

Police: Teacher had sex with boy
A female Central York High teacher was charged with corrupting a minor, a 17-year-old student.
By CARYL CLARKE
Daily Record/Sunday News

At bottom: · CORRUPTING A MINOR
Dec 8, 2005 — A female English teacher at Central York High School has been arraigned on charges stemming from an alleged sexual relationship with a 17-year-old student that police said included giving him alcohol once before sex.
Robin Winkis, 29, of the first block of West Market Street in York, had taught at the school five years, said attorney Mike King, the solicitor for Central York School District.

The alleged relationship came to administrators' attention in mid-November, King said, and the district launched an investigation immediately.

"When it turned up credible evidence, the teacher was suspended," King said.

He declined to say whether Winkis continues to be paid.

Winkis had coached Central's girls' varsity soccer team for the past three years.

The district notified the district attorney, who turned the case over to York City Police because Winkis lives in the city, King said.

District Justice Barbara Nixon arraigned Winkis on Monday on five counts of corruption of minors for five alleged sex acts during October and November, and one count of furnishing alcohol to a minor. Conviction for corruption of a minor, a first-degree misdemeanor, carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Winkis could not be reached for comment.

York Police Det. Dana Ward prepared the affidavit, which states Winkis kept in touch with the student through e-mails, instant messages and cell phone text messages. They had sexual intercourse four times in her apartment, according to the affidavit, and she once gave him "an alcoholic beverage" before sexual activity.

She drove to the boy's Manchester Township home once, had him sneak out and they "engaged in sexual contact" in her car, according to the affidavit.

Winkis is free on $10,000 bail. No preliminary hearing has been set.

Winkis taught English IV, English II and Honors English II, according to her page at the school district's Web site. It was last updated Nov. 1.

Winkis is the second female teacher from York County to be charged in the past month with corruption of minors for an alleged sexual relationship with a student.

Eastern Adams Regional Police allege Erica Rutters, 29, of Dover Township, who taught at the Oxford Christian Academy in New Oxford, wrote sexually explicit letters and had sex with a 16-year-old student.

Rutters' preliminary hearing before District Justice John Zepp of Adams County is set for 8:45 a.m. Tuesday. Her attorney, J. Michael Sheldon of Harrisburg, said Rutters is innocent and has said she will waive the hearing.

CORRUPTING A MINOR
Pennsylvania law deals differently with allegedly victimized students who are 16 and older and those who are younger than 16.

A Central York High School teacher faces charges of corrupting a minor, which is a first-degree misdemeanor.

If the alleged victim is younger than 16, the charge of statutory rape, a second-degree felony, would apply.

State legislators were not considering teachers when they fashioned the penalties, said Mark Bergstrom, executive director of the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing. After all, teachers are mandated to report suspicions of abuse against children. The General Assembly was looking at situations involving two students, Bergstrom said.

Kevin Harley, spokesman for the state attorney general, mentioned a law that applies to state and local employees who are responsible for prisoners. If a person with that authority sexually assaults a prisoner, the person can be charged with institutional sexual assault, which is a third-degree felony.

The law was written with law enforcement in mind, Harley said. It does not apply to teachers.