Posted on 05/23/2002 10:59:34 AM PDT by Coleus
Teacher in tryst is spared prison
Thursday, May 23, 2002
By PAULO LIMA
Staff Writer
Pamela Diehl-Moore's birthday present Wednesday was three years of her life.
The 43-year-old former schoolteacher from Lyndhurst came to court in Hackensack, Bergen County, NJ, having struck a deal with prosecutors that called for her to serve three years in prison for carrying on an affair with a 13-year-old student.
Instead, Superior Court Judge Bruce A. Gaeta sentenced Diehl-Moore to five years' probation and ordered her to continue intensive counseling for severe depression, which she blamed for the "lapse in judgment'' that landed her in trouble in the first place.
"I really don't see the harm that was done here and certainly society doesn't need to be worried,'' Gaeta explained. "I do not believe she is a sexual predator. It's just something between two people that clicked beyond the teacher-student relationship."
The judge also noted that he had seen no evidence that the boy suffered any psychological damage from the liaisons.
"Maybe it was a way for him, once this happened, to satisfy his sexual needs,'' Gaeta said. "People mature at different rates.''
Diehl-Moore met the boy at Woodrow Wilson Middle School in Clifton, where she taught. The affair occurred in the summer of 1999, just after the boy completed the seventh grade. Diehl-Moore took him back to her Lyndhurst home, where they had consensual sex.
According to state law, a child that young cannot legally give consent. Diehl-Moore's position as the boy's teacher also made the relationship illegal.
Diehl-Moore pleaded guilty in January to sexual assault, a second-degree crime ordinarily punishable by up to 10 years in prison. As part of the deal, however, prosecutors agreed to treat it as a third-degree crime and seek a minimum three-year sentence.
Bergen County Assistant Prosecutor Martin Delaney invoked the request at Wednesday's sentencing, calling the circumstances of the case "egregious'' and contending that Diehl-Moore violated the trust of a teacher-pupil relationship.
"We are talking about a sexual assault ... of a little boy,'' Delaney said. "We need to send a message to these people that this is unacceptable and you will pay with your liberty.''
For her part, Diehl-Moore made an impassioned, tearful plea in which she begged the judge not to separate her from her two daughters.
"I would never hurt anybody. I will never do this again," she said. "It was a lapse in judgment. I tried to help this boy in a way that he professed to me his family didn't.''
In the end, Gaeta appeared swayed by Diehl-Moore's long history of mental and emotional problems. Her lawyer, Richard Galler, said Diehl-Moore has been hospitalized twice since her April 2001 arrest.
He said she attempted suicide in February by overdosing on her psychiatric medications.
Diehl-Moore is divorced and is no longer licensed to teach.
Galler said his client has a lifelong history of severe depression and was under even more stress at the time of the affair because of her mother's death. Sending her to prison would be "a severe injustice,'' he argued.
Gaeta agreed.
"What good is it sending her to state prison, where she's not going to get any help for her problems?'' Gaeta said. "This is an exception where society is best served by having her treated.''
At Delaney's request, Gaeta stayed his sentence for 45 days while prosecutors decide whether to appeal.
Staff Writer Paulo Lima's e-mail address is
lima@northjersey.com
Freep the Judge, I have no e mail address for him or any Bergen County Judges. Only the webmaster for the State of NJ Courts Page, probably will not do much good.
webmaster.mailbox@judiciary.state.nj.us
Leave Message with the Bergen County Administration
In New Jersey, Judges are appointed by the Governor with the approval of the local State Senator or Senators of that legislative district or districts which include Bergen County, after 7 yrs. they are tenured.
Priest's today who engage in one sex act are now being nailed to the cross, stories put in the AP and spread all over the world; (I am not talking about the predators/pedophiles), this teacher's name was not. As a matter of fact the whole case was NOT in the news until today, no TV cameras and NO national news, no editorials, no outrage.
The double standard when a female commits the abuse (e.g. Mary Kay Lotorno case in WA) instead of a male. Seems to me(my opinion) that males are treated much more harshly when convicted of the same offense. There seems to be a "way to go, stud" mentality when a boy scores with an adult. This is out-an-out abouse, 13 yr. olds are babies.
This is the judge saying this! Unbelieveable that adults of this country can see no harm with a grown adult having sex with a child. I do not believe a 13 year old is a man. I can just see the new direction we are heading into in this country~ sex with children is the next "right".
Well, not babies but they are still children. I have a 13 year old that still plays with his legos. I cannot even fathom somthing like this happening to him and it not doing him harm. This judge is nuts! I'm glad we homeschool but I feel for those kids out there at the mercy of people like that woman abuser.
You are so right! And, if this were a Catholic priest caught doing this to a 13 year old boy we'd hear tons about that abuse. It's just disgusting to me what this woman did to that child.
This is in no way comparable to a grown man committing a deviant asexual act with a young boy. Nor is it in any way equivalent with a young girl being seduced by an adult male.
There is also the reality, that this teacher has probably already been terribly punished by the stigma. After all, how many women--even the quite promiscuous ones--want to be known for having a thirteen year old lover?! I think that the Judge probably made the right decision, but I admit that I do not know any facts other than what was reported immediately above.
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site
Yes, the newspapers did leave out the graphic details. A techer should not engage in intercourse with a student under 18, period. No ifs ands or buts.
That isn't a question for the child molester to decide.
A male teacher's private parts would be hanging from the court house flagpole.
"It was a lapse in judgment. I tried to help this boy in a way that he professed to me his family didn't.''
1. I'd hope the family isn't molesting him, she didn't help him, she molested him.
"I would never hurt anybody. I will never do this again,"
2. She did hurt someone and her daughters too...
"For her part, Diehl-Moore made an impassioned, tearful plea in which she begged the judge not to separate her from her two daughters."
3. And yet she tried to leave them via sucide. Is this a fit mother?
"Maybe it was a way for him, once this happened, to satisfy his sexual needs,'' Gaeta said. "People mature at different rates.''
4. Hey judge "Maybe" is crap. The law doesn't account for different maturity rates, it's black and white for this crime. But perhaps he is the type that would try Jr. here as an adult for a lesser crime, say smoking weed in gym class.
There is a fundamental difference between the sexes, and to suggest that a teenage boy is damaged by being satisfied by an older woman, is a bit of a stretch.While 13 year olds of either sex may be sexually mature physically, they are not emotionally mature. This was a flagrant abuse of authority. Throw 'er in the slammer.
After all, how many women--even the quite promiscuous ones--want to be known for having a thirteen year old lover?!IMO, there are a lot of single women between the ages of about 38 and 45 who'd be happy with Quasimodo. (Asbestos suit on : )
Since you and I both know that only a very sick adult will engage in this sort of activity, this child will be emotionally involved with a sick adult -- a sick adult who we know has a history of depressive episodes. Do you think it's healthy for him to be burdened with all the personal problems and travails of this adult? And what if she winds up committing suicide, which she very well could? Do you think he's not going to feel guilty about it, blame himself? And the fact that she's (obviously) promiscuous means he will be at greater risk of getting a sexually transmitted disease, one that may not be so easily cured. He could wind up going through life with chronic herpes or even die of AIDS. But no matter what disease he may pick up, he's unlikely to want to tell anybody about it, isn't he? Because then, he will have to tell the rest and he can't really do that, can he? So it will fester while he vainly hopes that it will just go away. And there are many, many more problems this kid will be exposed to. His moral development will be warped to say the least. I can't believe you would take this so lightly.
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