Ex-teacher sentenced for having sex with girl

The Sun News ^ | May. 18, 2005 | Kenneth A. Gailliard

[kingattax]

A former North Myrtle Beach High School teacher who had a sexual relationship with a student for about a year declared his love for the girl Tuesday just before he was sentenced to six years in prison for criminal sexual conduct with a minor.

Stephen George Zeltman told the court: "She's an angel. My actions hurt my angel."

The girl, who is not being identified because she was 14 when the pair began their relationship in March 2002, now is 18. Zeltman is 50.

"They had a consensual relationship," Assistant 15th Circuit Solicitor Karen Hanebrink said. "They considered themselves boyfriend and girlfriend."

Hanebrink said Zeltman bought a car for the girl when she was 15.

She now knows the relationship was wrong because of the differences in their ages and knows Zeltman needs to go to prison, Hanebrink said, but she doesn't think it should be for long.

Zeltman faced up to 20 years in prison. On Tuesday, he pleaded guilty before Circuit Judge Edward Cottingham for a lesser sentence. It was about seven months after he initially was scheduled for trial. Zeltman fled to Indonesia to avoid prosecution.

While there, he survived a tsunami in December but in February was tracked down by U.S. marshals in Bali. Zeltman ran because he was worried about being held in maximum security, Barbara Pratt, his attorney, said during his plea hearing.

"This is a very serious matter," Cottingham said. "To keep the family and the victim from reliving all this in a trial, I agreed to the guilty plea."

He said Zeltman will have to serve at least 85 percent of his sentence.

Hanebrink said she hoped for a stiffer sentence but considers the six-year sentence fair.

The girl's father, who also is not being identified to avoid identifying her, told the court that he thought his daughter was confused when she was 14.

"[Zeltman] came to us as a family friend and promised he was helping to look out for our daughter," the girl's father said. "He had all the parents and teachers fooled."

Prosecutors said Zeltman and the girl had sex regularly, including on school property. At least one student once caught the two involved in a sex act, Hanebrink said.

The allegations of sexual misconduct against Zeltman left students at North Myrtle Beach High "shocked and disappointed," the school's principal said earlier this year.

Zeltman was a drama teacher at North Myrtle Beach High for two years before his arrest. Before that, he worked at South Columbus High School in the Columbus County, N.C., School District.

His relationship with his victim began with flirting, Hanebrink said.

As the relationship progressed, the girl would stay late after drama events to be with Zeltman. After it became sexual, they had sex anywhere they could, she said.

At one point in the relationship, the girl became bothered when she learned Zeltman had represented himself to be about 10 years younger than he is, but she accepted it, Hanebrink said.

They were planning to marry and had picked names for children they planned to have, she said.

Zeltman bought the girl a Chrysler PT Cruiser, which she sometimes drove with him, Hanebrink said.

She never took the car home but instead parked it near her house then walked home, Hanebrick said.

It's unclear what happened to the car, but Hanebrink said it was in Zeltman's name and payments likely stopped when he fled the country. Contact KENNETH A. GAILLIARD at 626-0312 or kgailliard@thesunnews.com.

[proud American in Canada]

It never fails that when there is a thread about a female molesting a young boy, the male heros here all bemoan the fact that they never had that opportunity

No kidding. That drives me completely nuts.

Actually, it infuriates me. It belittles what it is, which is sexual abuse.

This bias is everywhere. Just recently there was an article in the Connecticut Post about an adult woman who molested an 8 year old boy with a headline that called it an "affair."

[Mamzelle]

re: doubt it ... but you never know. The question is interesting to me, though, because the "much-older man" dynamic is popular in movies and TV. Sean Connery in his 70's with women in their 20's, for example. A "thing" with an older man is presented as desirable.)))

Some books need to be written on the subject. It's a fantasy for the males--

The old wheezers think that jailbait arm-candy makes them look young and juicy.

It always occurs to me that it's exactly the opposite--"I require a fetish/stimulant to get my act going...and that fetish is flesh as fresh as possible. The failing libido of the aged male needs a rare cure to pin its hopes on--like Mao thinking a parade of adolescent virgins would restore his youth. How laughable--how pathetic.

In this day and age--people are wedded to their sick impulses as "lifestyle choices"--what it indicates to me is that jailbait horndogs are as natural as manure.

[Tax-chick]

I know what you mean. On one thread, a poster said that a teacher who had molested a 12-year-old boy did it because her husband "wasn't man enough for her."

Sick.

[Tax-chick]

jailbait horndogs are as natural as manure.

Well put. You can see the natural-selection point, though ... a man is naturally going to be attracted to women in their reproductive prime (which is not 14, of course.)

But only the richest and most powerful men are actually get the top breeders :-).

[melancholy]

I remember back to my youth and I remember having sex with 14 and 15 year old girls

Care to say how old were you at that time?

[Law is not justice but process]

"I'm sure there are plenty of 46 year old, going on 20, that have been fallen prey to some fine looking teenage girls."

Are you people out of your minds? Not only was this girl 14 when she first had sex with this guy, but he was her teacher AND a family friend. He knew exactly how old she was. When it came down to facing up to what he did he ran off to Indonesia: flight is always the best evidence that a person knows they did wrong. Also notice he made no effort to take his "angel" with him when he bugged out, even though she was 16 when he went. It was not about her, but about his pleasure all along. He is a pedophile and would have thrown her over when she turned 20 for the next 13 or 14 year old that would give him what he wanted. Would you let this guy teach drama to YOUR 14 year-old? Would you feel comfortable if he told you as a friend that he would look out for your impressionable daughter while all the while using her as his sexual plaything?

This is not the fault of a 14 year old "Lolita," it is the crime of a middle-aged pedophilic Lothario. For the next 5 1/2 years (he has to serve 85% on this crime before parole eligibility) he will be on the receiving end of the same treatment from his fellow perverts in the Department of Corrections. I hope he enjoys it.

By the way, for whoever it was that criticized the judge, YOU ARE DEAD WRONG! Judge Cottingham is one of the best in the State. If we had 500 Ed Cottinghams on the bench in this State there would be a 75% lower crime rate and no backlog of cases on the civil docket. He is conservative and accepts no B.S. from attorneys.

[This Just In]

The point is that the bozo plead guilty, and running from the authorities was proof enough that he was guilty.

I find his kind detestable because they prey on gullible, naive young girls.

[Jaysun]

The girl and her parents ought to share some of the blame . These days 14 year old girls know exactly what they are doing when it comes to sex . I know there are laws , and I am not condoning what the teacher did , however , it takes two to tango , and the parents even admit the kid was confused . Perhaps the parents' fault ?

I was actually commenting on his remark to Archidamus, "could you please try to be a little more ridiculous ?"

As to your question, I agree to some extent. The parents have obviously done a poor job. We started instilling our values into our kids at a very young age - so that now our daughter considers sex before marriage completely out of the question. We hope to God that she continues to feel this way, I suppose you never know, but the least we can do as parents is to make every effort to steer them straight.

[PLMerite]

I hate to remind people of this but not too long ago girls of 14 were marrying guys in their 40s. I believe the age of consent is still 14 in some states.

[Paloma_55]

Did you ever notice that their is a difference between a four year old and a fourteen year old girl?

Absolutely.

A 4 year old has a very simple mind that is incapable of making rational judgements about things like sex, and has not arrived at a level of physical maturity to appeal to any but the most sick men.

A 14 year old has a very simple mind that is incapable of making rational judgements about things like sex, but might have developed the physical attributes that would appeal to a man who is willing to take advantage of her mental incapacity to render good judgement.

You must not have ever had a 14 year old daughter or this would all be so obvious.

[Paloma_55]

not too long ago... ahh, the good ole days when a 40 year old man could take advantage of a little girl who just happened to have boobs.

/sarcasm

[SC Swamp Fox]

they are two tacos short of a combination plate

Perfect.

[Tax-chick]

You must not have ever had a 14 year old daughter or this would all be so obvious.

Bingo! If they had anything like adult judgment, they'd be working on calculus!

[Tax-chick]

I cribbed it, because it IS perfect.

[SC Swamp Fox]

You nailed it.

[PistolPaknMama]

she was 14

14?? As in years old? I was 14 when I got my last baby doll for Christmas. Now 14 year olds are getting teachers? This ain't your mother's after-school activities.

[PistolPaknMama]

"[Zeltman] came to us as a family friend and promised he was helping to look out for our daughter," the girl's father said.

Any older man that is just helping to look out for your daughter is when you say "you know what, bucko? I can look after my own daughter." The kid was staying late after drama class and having sex anywhere she could. Somebody was not supervising this child and obviously the pedophile drama teacher was incompetent to do so. Nobody but idiots trusts an older man with their 14 year old daughter.

[PistolPaknMama]

Question: Is it possible that a lawyer can ever recognize just what a freakin sleaze their client is?!?!??

Absolutely.

The article doesn't state how the charges came about. Did the girl tell the parents? did the girl's best friend tell the parents? Did the parents find the PT Cruiser Odd story.

[Archidamus]

"A 14 year old has a very simple mind that is incapable of making rational judgements about things like sex, but might have developed the physical attributes that would appeal to a man"

And this is different from a sixteen year old girl, an eighteen year old girl, a twenty-one year old girl, or a 35 year old woman in what way?

I have 20 year old daughter. I certainly would not have wanted her to have sex at 14 with her teacher. For that matter, I would not have wanted her to have had sex with a 15 year old classmate when she was 14. To make sure that did not happen, my wife stayed home and home-schooled my daughter. No problem with classmates or teachers having sex. In addition, my wife spent a lot of time teaching religion in homeschool, took my daughter to church every day, restricted access to the trash on television and movies, and generally taught her the importance of not having sex outside of marriage.

If the parents in this story had done what we did, their daughter would not have been having sex with her teacher. Throwing the teacher into jail after the fact does not de-sultify the girl.

[The_Media_never_lie]

Where were this girl's parents? How could they possibly not have known? Are they not partly responsible?