Posted on 03/09/2010 11:43:24 PM PST by Chet 99
By Max Zimbert
Published: Last Updated Tuesday, March 9, 2010 9:06 PM PST
A Burbank Unified School District teacher turned herself in Monday for having sex with a 14-year-old student from March to September last year, police said.
Amy Beck, 33, a sixth-grade teacher at Jordan Middle School, surrendered Monday afternoon to Burbank police with her lawyer, and was being held on $400,000 bail, Burbank Police Sgt. Robert Quesada said.
“We’re still trying to piece everything together, what happened, where, what kind of sex acts, how many, and how long it’s been going on,” he said. “She walked in with her attorney . . . and said, ‘Hey, I came to surrender for what I did.’”
Beck, a Burbank resident, was scheduled to be arraigned today in Burbank Superior Court. Prosecutors charged Beck with four counts of unlawful sex with a person under 16 and one count of oral copulation with a person under 16. Prosecutors will request that bail be set at $175,000, according to a statement from the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.
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Beck faces up to seven years in state prison if convicted.
The minor involved was 14 at the time, and is now 15, police said. It is unclear whether the student is enrolled in Burbank Unified, but he is no longer at Jordan Middle School, school officials said.
“We’re trying to do some investigating and follow up and make sure there are no other students [involved],” Quesada said. “It was a surprise, and we’re trying to get all the facts in the case.”
Beck’s attorney, Michael Williamson, said he expected her to plead not guilty.
“The simple fact is, until I know exactly what sort of exposure she might have . . . it would be foolish for me to have my client plead guilty,” he said. “The not-guilty plea is her statutory right. I can see the evidence and will have a chance to discuss the case with the district attorney, and that can’t happen until she’s charged.”
Beck had been teaching at Jordan for about 10 years, Principal Sharon Cuseo said.
“She’s a well respected and loved teacher,” she said. “We’re all shocked.”
Beck submitted her resignation Friday in a two- or three-sentence letter, Cuseo said.
“There was no explanation in her resignation letter. It was just that she was resigning immediately,” Cuseo said.
Beck taught English and social science. Administrators have a substitute in place to finish the school year.
District officials would not comment regarding potential legal liability, adding that such questions were speculative.
“We had no information until the Burbank Police Department contacted us,” said Gabe Soumakian, assistant superintendent for human resources. “We didn’t know why she resigned. It didn’t make sense, but we didn’t have any information to go along with it.”
Parents were unaware of the allegations Tuesday when they picked up their children in front of the school.
“It’s getting younger and younger,” said Dan Wright, a father of a sixth- and seventh-graders. “I can’t imagine how I’d react if my son or daughter was in that position with someone of authority — not to mention the impact on other students, because they’ll find out.”
Manuela Cansino said she worried about the effect on her grandson and his classmates.
“They’re going to be surprised,” she said. “They’ll be asking questions. It’s unbelievable.”
The sex criminal defines his own crime by doing what makes him or her feel good. It could be something that we wouldn’t consider as sex, such as collecting underwear or looking through keyholes. When the action that makes them feel good crosses the line of legality, we have a sex crime.
In the case of the teachers, it’s not sex that motivates them. They could arrange that at any local bar. They would not be putting their career in jeopardy(although when I was in school, just going to a bar would have been justification for firing a teacher.) There is something about the relationship with the student that makes them feel good.
Teacher’s Union has got her back..... =.=
“Beck submitted her resignation Friday in a two- or three-sentence letter, Cuseo said.”
This woman is not the sharpest knife. Had she not resigned, her Union would have made the school district pay for a extended leave of absent.
We get a lot of these threads - roughly one a fortnight - and they’re typically as formalistic as a Kabuki play.
So kudos to you for your post #16 which materially added to the FReeper knowledge base.
Thanks for the info, champ. I must have missed the point of your post.
include me out of those groups. I’m still trying to figure out why the lawyer surrendered.
and coached French.
That kid's really got stamina. Worse than the 4 hour Viagra erection.
Post of the day!
Seems like white women have decided that instead of having children they’ll sexually exploit them instead! LOL!
Looks like that 80s movie “Private Lessons” keeps becoming reality on a larger and larger scale.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu2BCFVV2RU
Not guilty!
The people who post comments in the “lucky rascal,” “a valuable lesson,” “woo woo, good time” category always set me to thinking.
Just what “lesson” did the middle-school boy(s) learn by having adulterous sex with a married woman? “Take what you can whenever you can?” “Get what you want when you want it?” They can learn that “lesson” from any selfish jerk they run into, now or in the future.
Did they learn “This act means a lasting bond between two people who give themselves to each other in life-long loyalty and love”? No? “This act is a precious gift for fulfilling your spouse, blessing your marriage, and making a family of your own”? No?
Or did they learn “This leads nowhere, means nothing, can mean nothing, and is supposed to mean nothing”?
Yeh, that’s just what we need; more kids totally absorbed in an exciting and jangly nothing: their sex impulse like a malfunctioning cellphone that constantly rings and buzzes and vibrates, but never really connects and never has a message, and cuts off before they figure out what it’s all about.
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