Bloom Trail teacher fired, charged in Steger for sexual relationship with student in 2001
A teacher at Bloom Trail High School in Chicago Heights accused of starting a years-long sexual relationship with a former student when she was 17 was extradited from Indiana to Steger Wednesday and has been charged with a Class 1 felony.
If found guilty, Ron Giglio, 49, of Cedar Lake, Indiana, would be sentenced to a minimum of 4 years and up to 15 years for criminal sexual assault as someone who held “a position of trust, authority, or supervision in relation to the victim.”
Giglio was fired from Bloom Trail High School Monday after the school launched an investigation in May unrelated to the charges, High School District 206 said.
Court records state Giglio was released to Illinois custody after he was charged June 19 in Indiana with child solicitation. Giglio appeared in a Cook County court in Markham Friday and prosecutors asked the judge keep keep him in custody due to him being a “clear and present danger” to the victim and others.
Assistant State’s Attorney Bridget O’Brien said female students have complained of Giglio acting inappropriately toward them as recently as May of this year.
One student allegedly went to another teacher in 2017 after receiving text messages from Giglio, in which he said he had photos of her and another student at a school dance and if she wanted them back, “you need to give me something else in return,” prosecutors said.
This spring, another teacher emailed the school principal after a student said Giglio told her he thought she was “beautiful and sexy,” touched her hand and “tried to make her go in that close,” prosecutors said.
“These allegations establish a pattern of conduct that the defendant is in fact a groomer, is in fact a predator and is in fact a danger to the community,” O’Brien said.
According to court records in the criminal case, the student met Giglio in 2001, during her sophomore year of high school, began using Giglio’s classroom to store her belongings and then the two started communicating online “on a daily and nightly basis.”
The following school year, Giglio began practicing soccer with the student after school. Prosecutors said while they played soccer, Giglio began touching the student, including rubbing against her and touching her butt over her clothes. He then allegedly kissed her after someone scored a goal and the two continued to engage in sexual contact multiple times in Giglio’s classroom.
On May 3, 2002, when the girl was 17, Giglio drove her home to Schererville, Indiana, because he wanted to see her in her prom dress, prosecutors said. The girl said her parents weren’t home and the pair went inside and had sex after he pushed her onto a bed and got on top of her, according to prosecutors.
The former student, who filed a lawsuit earlier this year, told police she and Giglio had sex on numerous occasions in Illinois and Indiana. The relationship continued for years until the she disclosed it to a therapist and realized what Giglio did was wrong, prosecutors said..
She recorded a conversation with Giglio in April, played for the judge during Friday’s court hearing, because she said she was scared Giglio and his sister were threatening her after she went to the high school with her allegations. Giglio denied on the recording threatening her and pleaded with her that he had not been “grooming” her and that she was just as much in this as he was.
She told him she was a virgin and had never slept with anyone before they had sex ahead of her prom, and he responded, “you are right, but don’t act like for a second that you didn’t know what you were doing the entire time,” the recording showed.
He then admitted on the recording that what he did was wrong and said he regretted beginning a relationship with her.
Prosecutors said the recording revealed Giglio as a danger to the former student, and that he should be held until the next hearing in the case.
In the video, the woman told Giglio that his sexual abuse of her has continued to cause her severe emotional distress.
“You don’t understand how much this has ruined my life,” she said.
Cook County Judge Jerome Barrido chose Friday not to detain Giglio, but ordered him to have no contact with children under age 17 other than his biological children and placed him under electronic home monitoring. Giglio must also comply with an order of protection filed by the state and is not allowed to have any contact with the the woman for the duration of the case, the judge said.
