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Police: Teacher had sex with teen

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Scratch

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Nov 15, 2007, 10:52:51 AM11/15/07
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Police: Teacher had sex with teen


BY STEVEN M. SWEENEY
steven....@timesnews.com [more details]


BY ERICA ERWIN
erica...@timesnews.com
Published: November 14. 2007 6:00AM

Erica L. Baker was just a student teacher in training at Strong Vincent
High School when she met the female student, now 17 years old.

Contact in school allowed the two, a teen and a 23-year-old woman, to
become acquainted until they were fast friends, a criminal complaint
filed Tuesday against Baker said.

Erie County District Attorney's Office detectives said the friendship
lasted longer than the school year that ended in June and later became
sexual.

The Erie School District had hired Baker as a substitute teacher at
Pfeiffer-Burleigh Elementary School in August.


The girl, still a student at Strong Vincent, would meet Baker, and they
would drive to the parking lot at Sara's Campground, near the entrance to
Presque Isle State Park.

That's where the two had sexual contact with each other, according to the
criminal complaint filed in Millcreek Township District Judge Paul
Manzi's office Tuesday.

Regardless of what the relationship was, the District Attorney's Office
has classified Baker's conduct as criminal and charged her with three
counts of corruption of minors, all first-degree misdemeanors. Baker, 24,
of Chord Road, Corry, was arraigned Tuesday before Manzi and released
after posting bail.

Charbel Latouf, Baker's attorney, declined to discuss details.

"We will go to the preliminary hearing and see what evidence there is
against her," Latouf said. Latouf said Baker pleaded not guilty to the
charges.


The Erie School District was first made aware of the charges on Friday
and Richard Perhacs, the school district's attorney, said the district
has cooperated with the District Attorney's Office.

The school district suspended Baker without pay from her substitute-
teaching position at Pfeiffer-Burleigh as soon as officials learned of
the charges.

"The principal reason why she is suspended is the district does not have
any access to the information that has apparently caused her to be
arrested," Perhacs said. "We don't have cause to terminate the substitute
contract early, but it's the district's feeling that, with the arrest and
the public charge against this person, it's inappropriate for her to
work.

"We can't put her in a classroom with an accusation like this over her
head."

The school district retroactively hired Baker at its Sept. 12 board
meeting as a substitute teacher for a period of three months beginning
Aug. 22. Substitute teachers can earn up to $35,618 if they work a full
year.


According to the criminal complaint, Baker is also known as Erica L.
Mceldowney.

Court records show that Baker was recently divorced. The complaint also
said that the District Attorney's Office investigators interviewed Baker
at the Erie County Children's Advocacy Center on Nov. 9, where she
admitted to the sexual relationship with the student.

"Once I was made aware of the allegations pending last Friday, we
immediately began an investigation and made the school district aware of
the investigation," District Attorney Brad Foulk said. "The school
district acted appropriately once they were made aware of this allegation
and the investigation, which culminated in the arrest of this individual
today."

Perhacs said intimate encounters between students and teachers are on the
rise, even though many of the incidents do not rise to the level of
criminal activity. However, many still result in faculty terminations.

"In recent years, these cases have come to light primarily because the
culture has changed, and I think people, particularly young people,
affected by these types of behaviors, have become a lot more likely to
come forward and tell people about them and report them," Perhacs said.
"Whether they're being reported more often or occurring more often, I
can't say."


Staff writer Lisa Thompson contributed to this report.

STEVEN SWEENEY can be reached at 870-1675 or by e-mail.

ERICA ERWIN can be reached at 870-1846 or by e-mail.

Convicted Teachers, Coaches
The arrest of substitute teacher Erica Baker on Tuesday marked another in
a long string of teachers or coaches arrested in the Erie region in the
past five years. During that time, eight teachers and one coach have been
convicted of crimes related to the sexual abuse of children. Here is a
list of those convicted of those crimes:

Gregory Yarbenet, 60, a former Rice Avenue Middle School teacher,
admitted in 2003 that he molested two of his female students. He is
serving 11½ to 23½ years in state prison on charges of indecent assault,
corruption of minors and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.


Keith Lenz, 51, a Northwestern High School teacher, pleaded no contest to
one count of indecent assault in July 2004. Lenz had to surrender his
Pennsylvania teaching license and was sentenced to two years of
probation. With the plea, Lenz chose not to challenge the prosecution's
evidence that he had indecent contact with a 15-year-old girl in the
school auditorium in December 2000 or January 2001, and with a 12-year-
old girl in a school office in March 2003, according to Erie County Court
records. Other students also had accused Lenz of molesting them in the
early 1980s, but the Northwestern School Board took no action after a
lengthy hearing. State police, likewise, investigated the claims but
filed no charges.


Robin Lee Hecker, 33, of Albion, pleaded guilty in April to having a
sexual relationship with a 16-year-old male student in her high school
English class at Northwestern High School in the summer of 2005. She was
sentenced to six months to one year in Erie County Prison, followed by
one year of probation, on one count of corruption of a minor. She also
agreed to give up her license to teach in Pennsylvania.


Megan Fecko, 29, was charged in January 2006 with having a sexual
relationship with one of her female Villa Maria Academy students that had
started in April 2002, when the girl was 15. Fecko pleaded no contest to
two misdemeanor counts of indecent assault. In February, Fecko was
sentenced to six to 20 months in Erie County Prison, followed by 20
months of probation.


Jeffrey R. Harvey, 38, pleaded guilty in December to one count of
corruption of minors for having sex with a 17-year-old female student
while he was a social studies teacher at Harbor Creek High School. He was
sentenced in January to serve six months to one year in Erie County
Prison.


Matthew Weaver, 33, pleaded guilty in January to one count of indecent
assault after he inappropriately touched a 14-year-old boy during a play
production at the Erie Playhouse. The former Seneca High School French
teacher was sentenced to three months to one year in Erie County Prison,
followed by one year of intermediate punishment.


Dennis Vickery, 61 when he was charged, pleaded guilty in July 2006 in
U.S. District Court in Erie to one felony count of receiving child
pornography. Vickery, a former research chemist at International Paper
Co. in Erie, was teaching chemistry at Villa Maria Academy at the time of
his arrest in April 2006. He was sentenced in November to 10 years, five
months in federal prison and fined $25,000.


Kevin Kulhanek, 50, pleaded guilty in April 2006 to indecent assault,
corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of a child, for
incidents that occurred between June 2003 and May 2004 in which he
molested a 12-year-old girl. Kulhanek, who was a volunteer coach for
Villa Maria Elementary School, was sentenced in July to serve from three
years and four months to eight years in state prison.


Chad Allen Shelatz, a former substitute teacher from Linesville, was
sentenced in U.S. District Court to five years and three months in
federal prison for possessing child pornography. Shelatz, 29 at the time,
pleaded guilty in October 2004 to a child-pornography charge. Shelatz
worked as a substitute teacher in Conneaut Lake and Linesville for
students in the seventh through 12th grades.

lein

unread,
Nov 15, 2007, 11:26:51 AM11/15/07
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On Nov 15, 7:52 am, Scratch

<Larry_Tig...@lefites.are_traitors_and.nuts> wrote:
> Police: Teacher had sex with teen
>
> BY STEVEN M. SWEENEY
> steven.swee...@timesnews.com [more details]
>
> BY ERICA ERWIN
> erica.er...@timesnews.com

> Published: November 14. 2007 6:00AM
>
> Erica L. Baker was just a student teacher in training at Strong Vincent
> High School when she met the female student, now 17 years old.


Is Strong Vincent a secular school?

Bob Tiernan

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Nov 15, 2007, 8:06:42 PM11/15/07
to

Scratch wrote:

> Erica L. Baker was just a student teacher in

> training at Strong Vincent High School...


Hold on there! Is there really a high school
named in honor of Strong Vincent? Whaddya know.

Bob T

Gatt

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Nov 15, 2007, 8:24:08 PM11/15/07
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"Bob Tiernan" <zulu.pac...@shell1.pacifier.net> wrote in message

Yeah, that's pretty cool. I haven't looked it up but I'm betting it's not
in Texas or Alabama.

-c


Scratch

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Nov 15, 2007, 9:27:02 PM11/15/07
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lein <boomer_...@my-deja.com> wrote in news:c86391f9-e634-4ed7-9e80-
5de1ee...@a39g2000pre.googlegroups.com:

I don't know

Scratch

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Nov 15, 2007, 9:31:00 PM11/15/07
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Bill Shatzer

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Nov 15, 2007, 11:48:56 PM11/15/07
to
Bob Tiernan wrote:


Indeed there is - appropriately in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Peace and justice,

lein

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Nov 16, 2007, 1:03:47 AM11/16/07
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Dreary Erie as we use to call it.

Lobby Dosser

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Nov 16, 2007, 7:39:49 PM11/16/07
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lein <boomer_...@my-deja.com> wrote:

Where an anonymous donor just gave $100 Million to charity. And a Clydsdale
showed up at a Petsmart dressed as a toy poodle for Halloween.

cor

unread,
Nov 17, 2007, 6:43:52 PM11/17/07
to
Scratch wrote:
> Police: Teacher had sex with teen
>
>
> BY STEVEN M. SWEENEY
> steven....@timesnews.com [more details]
>
>
> BY ERICA ERWIN
> erica...@timesnews.com
> Published: November 14. 2007 6:00AM
>
>
> Erica L. Baker was just a student teacher in training at Strong Vincent
> High School when she met the female student, now 17 years old.
>
> Contact in school allowed the two, a teen and a 23-year-old woman, to
> become acquainted until they were fast friends, a criminal complaint
> filed Tuesday against Baker said.
...

The police and prosecutors have nothing to do?

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