UPDATE: Teacher's Aide Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Sex With Boy
The judge in this case must not know of the double standard involving female teachers and school sex scandals. Usually then get a slap on the wrist probation, but almost never any jail time . . . unless they are repeat offenders like Pamela Rogers. How did Donna Goebel get five years?
A judge has sentenced a 45-year-old former teacher's aide at a southern New Jersey school to five years in prison for sexually assaulting a male student. Donna Goebel maintained her innocence during sentencing in court Monday. The 45-year-old Westampton resident expressed "extreme regrets" for what she called an "uncharacteristic situation."
The 16-year-old testified that the two had sex several times in early 2008. The judge said he had great difficulty painting Goebel as a predator because she was in an awful marriage.
Ex-teacher's aide sentenced for teen sex
EARLIER: Wow! We cover a lot of these teacher sex scandals, but rarely do we have one where the husband of the alleged perpetrator turns her into cops. That's apparently what happened to 43-year-old Donna Goebel, a teacher's aide at a "special needs" school in Westampton, New Jersey. According to police, Goebel's husband found some pictures of the boy at the home he shared with his wife and THEIR two teenaged children, suspected something was fishy and made a report back on January 24. After about a two week investigation, Donna was arrested at their home on Thursday. Wonder if he told her he had gone the cops, or if he just kept quiet and waited for them to show up and arrest her? Either way, must have been an interesting two weeks at the Goebel house.
Here's more from the
Courier-Post:
Goebel, charged with sexual assault, was being held in lieu of $75,000 bail at the county's minimum-security women's facility in Pemberton Township. Under terms of her bail, she cannot have contact with the student, said the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office.
The victim was identified only as a minor who attends the school where Goebel is employed. "None of the assaults occurred on school property," Prosecutor Robert Bernardi said in a statement. Authorities said a man went to investigators Jan. 24 with suspicions about Goebel's behavior. That prompted an investigation by the prosecutor's office and the Burlington City police department.
Bernardi gave no other details about the case, including the victim's gender, "to maintain the anonymity of the victim and due to the nature of the charges." Goebel is to have an initial court appearance this afternoon in Superior Court in Mount Holly. If convicted, she faces between five and 10 years in state prison.
Read more...