Former Yonkers special ed teacher charged with sexual acts with student, child porn
A former high school teacher at a special education school in Yonkers was charged last week with enticing a 16-year-old student to send sexually explicit videos to her and leading the student to believe they were in a relationship, according to indictment paperwork.
Sandy Carazas-Pinez faces two federal charges in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York: enticing a minor victim to engage in illegal sexual activity and production of child pornography, according to indictment paperwork. The alleged misconduct occurred while she was a teacher at the Biondi Special Education Center, part of Rising Ground in southwest Yonkers.
"This matter is in its infancy," Carazas-Pinez's attorney Marcio Gallucci said in an email. "I still await discovery from the prosecutor but look forward to engaging a vigorous defense."
"We are upset, shocked, and appalled by the behavior of a former teacher at Biondi High School, who betrayed the values of the school by engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a student," the school said in a statement.
"Having discovered her improper actions and her clear violation of our policies and code of ethics, we immediately removed her from the classroom, and upon our initial investigation, terminated her employment and notified authorities," the statement continued. "This teacher broke the trust that Biondi educators strive to uphold each day."
What are the details of the case?
According to the indictment, Carazas-Pinez engaged in a sexual relationship with the student from November 2022 to February 2023.
Carazas-Pinez called, texted and video called the student from her personal cellphone during that time to arrange sexual encounters and to get the student to "engage in live-streamed sexually explicit conduct while on video calls," the indictment states. She also sent sexually explicit photos of herself and sexually explicit texts to the student, instructing the student to delete them.
Carazas-Pinez referred to the sexual encounters and video calls as "gifts" in text messages to the student, the indictment says.
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While on school grounds, the indictment alleges, Carazas-Pinez inappropriately touched the student and enticed the student to touch her in her genital area over her clothes. That evolved to sexual encounters off school grounds in her Carazas-Pinez's car, including intercourse.
When the student said they wanted to end their sexual relationship, Carazas-Pinez convinced the student to continue it by threatening to take away some privileges at school, records show.
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In February, when school officials learned Carazas-Pinez had been seen in her car with the student off campus and had been observed in close contact with the student at school, they fired her. After she was fired, she texted the student from a new phone number and instructed them to delete the messages.
In its statement, the school said it was continuing to work with law enforcement and that "Students of any age should always feel empowered to come forward and report inappropriate behavior of any kind, and without fear or intimidation."
Contact Diana Dombrowski at ddombrowski@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @domdomdiana.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Former Yonkers teacher charged with sexual activity with student
