Teacher Elizabeth Logan is accused of stealing a third-grader's coat and trying to sell it on eBay
Posted on 05/04/2007 12:42:14 PM PDT by Incorrigible
By HOLLY DANKS And MELISSA NAVAS — Thursday May 03, 2007
| Teacher Elizabeth Logan is accused of stealing a third-grader's coat and trying to sell it on eBay |
|
HILLSBORO, Ore. — "I told her, 'Be sure not to lose this coat,''' the third-grader's mother remembers reminding the girl.
"It's expensive, and I usually didn't let her wear it to school. But it was cold.''
The 8-year-old promised. But on Jan. 10 she came home in tears. She had become warm during recess on the Jackson Elementary School playground and took off her gloves and the $114 navy blue Columbia Sportswear Tectonite coat.
When she returned without the coat, her teacher immediately sent the girl to look for it. The gloves were where she had left them, but not the ski jacket her grandmother had given her.
"A staff member found her crying by the lost-and-found,'' the mother said.
The jacket would turn up, but only after the girl's mother tracked it to an eBay auction and took her suspicions to police. On Friday, Elizabeth Lucinda Logan, a Jackson Elementary teacher, will be in court. She faces charges of stealing the coat and trying to sell it.
The girl's parents asked that she not be identified in this story because of their concerns about their children who still attend the school.
Two days after the coat disappeared, the girl and her mother blanketed the school with fliers showing a photo of her wearing it. For days, they searched classrooms, checked the school's lost-and-found boxes, asked teachers and staff whether anyone had seen the jacket.
"Things don't disappear into thin air,'' the mother said. "I just wanted an explanation. I just wanted the coat back.''
An avid online shopper, the mother decided to check out eBay to find a replacement.
"I was scanning them on the off chance that it was there,'' the mother said. "It was just a gut feeling.''
What she found Jan. 18 was like a punch to the gut, she said.
The photo of the jacket that had been auctioned for $46 first caught the mother's eye. When she opened the site, she realized that the 7/8 size, colors and model perfectly matched her daughter's missing coat. Digging further, she saw the seller was from Hillsboro and the jacket was posted for sale the day after her daughter's disappeared.
The seller's eBay ID matched a name on the Jackson School Web site.
The mother made an appointment with the principal on Jan. 22, when she presented ``all the coincidental information.'' Mysteriously, the jacket reappeared at the school that morning, ripped to pieces.
Police were called and took up the case. Investigators connected the eBay account to Logan, a Jackson Elementary first-grade teacher.
Logan, 41, will be arraigned Friday in Washington County Circuit Court on a secret grand jury indictment. The teacher was arrested Feb. 6 and cited for theft by receiving and criminal misuse of a computer.
In a prepared statement, Krista Shipsey, Logan's private attorney, said: "Ms. Logan deeply regrets the impact that this allegation has had on her community, especially the children at Jackson Elementary. She has been a devoted and caring teacher for 20 years and truly misses working with her first-graders. Ms. Logan has been devastated by this allegation.''
Lt. Michael Rouches, Hillsboro police spokesman, said Logan told investigators she found the jacket in the school's lost-and-found bin and was auctioning it on eBay until her dog tore it up. Rouches said Logan has made more than 1,000 eBay transactions.
She was still selling Wednesday under the screen name logan6921, with a 99.9 percent positive feedback rating.
Logan told police she routinely buys bulk clothing at Goodwill for $1.39 a pound, goes through the pile for hidden treasures and sells what she can on eBay.
Hillsboro School District officials said Logan was placed on paid leave Feb. 7, the day after her arrest.
Nicole Kaufman, district spokeswoman, said administrators are conducting their own internal investigation.
Logan began teaching in the Hillsboro School District in 1987. She started at Jackson Elementary in 1998, and was earning nearly $69,000 a year when she went on leave.
Jackson School principal Janis Hill said she made a "measured decision'' to call or meet with only the parents in Logan's 25-student class to tell them the teacher was on paid leave during the investigation.
Leana Garrison, whose 7-year-old son, Nate, is in Logan's class, said parents were left in the dark about the reason for Logan's leave.
Since Logan's departure, Garrison said, her son is not as excited about school.
"He's constantly writing to her,'' Garrison said. "He just misses her and really liked her as a teacher.''
Hill said school counselors have been available to students to help cope with emotional stress since Logan left.
"First-grade teachers are kind of like the princess, the queen, mom rolled together,'' Hill said.
(Holly Danks and Melissa Navas are staff writers for The Oregonian of Portland, Ore. They can be contacted at hollydanks(at)news.oregonian.com and melissanavas(at)news.oregonian.com.)
Not for commercial use. For educational and discussion purposes only.
Guilty!
The guy at Lenscrafters, too.
Coat reappeared, ripped to pieces.
Teacher needs to be evaluated for psychological problems.
Another proud dues paying member of the NEA, no doubt.
Or they can just put
Real World cameras in her class
and make it a show!
Time to add thief to the list.
Hair dye does strange things to a person’s mind...
Big Brother Ten: Classroom Crazies!
ping
She’s sizzled her brain clean out of her head, obviously.
“... said Logan told investigators she found the jacket in the school’s lost-and-found bin ....”
I guess Logan missed the fact that her student and the student’s mother were searching the school high and low for this coat, and handing out flyers.
The coat was never in the lost and found bin - she stole it, and brought it back when she knew she was about to get busted. I hope the judge makes her pay for a replacement coat at a minimum.
Just another evilBay whore.
So, her defense is that, rather than stealing it from the playground, she stole it from the lost and found? That is supposed to be OK to her?
However, you have to laugh at a teacher using the equivalent of "my dog ate my homework".
If I'm reading this correctly, so is the Principal. It appears the Principal warned Logan that her secret was about to come out.
Even Tariq Azziz wouldn't be caught dead in those!
But she doesn't regret stealing a little girl's coat?
She has been a devoted and caring teacher for 20 years and truly misses working with her first-graders.
A devoted and caring person would not steal a child's coat and make them go cold in the winter.
Ms. Logan has been devastated by this allegation.''
*Allegation*?!?!
Guilty.
Liar. I wonder how much other stuff she stole from kids and sold on e-bay?
Hillsboro School District officials said Logan was placed on paid leave Feb. 7, the day after her arrest.
Adding insult to injury. When she's convicted she should have to pay all that back.
Hey, homeschooled parents *could* sell their kids’ stuff on eBay. That’s why we need government regulators to make sure homeschooled kids are properly clothed. This lady could be the first to join the National Outfitters’ Association.
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