Glendale Hts. teacher gets 5 years for sex with 15-year-old ex-student

An ex-Glendale Heights teacher was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison for having a sexual relationship with a former male student while living with his family.

Anastasia B. Pappas also must register as a sexual offender for life upon her release from prison. The 41-year-old Glendale Heights woman received the punishment in a plea deal after she admitted committing criminal sexual assault.

Pappas had an affair with a then 15-year-old boy that lasted about one year until Jan. 31, 2006, while living with his family in Lombard. She was his fifth-grade teacher in 2001 at Black Hawk Elementary School in Glendale Heights.

Prosecutor Thomas O'Connor said Pappas became friends with the teen's parents years earlier while teaching four of their children and later, when she was having money problems, moved in to their home. She lived with the family for nearly five years until the allegations arose.

"The manipulation is the worst part of it," the teen's mother said Wednesday. "She knew him since he was in kindergarten. She was like a member of the family.

"I would never in a million years have suspected her of anything like this. She was just a master manipulator."

Prosecutors brought charges in February 2006, but the indictment was sealed from public view for more than a year to protect the teen's identity. DuPage Circuit Judge Perry Thompson, who presided over the plea deal, unsealed the file about a year ago as the case moved closer to trial.

The allegations arose after the boy's mother became suspicious one Friday when her son and Pappas both returned home later than usual.

The teen lied about his whereabouts. His mother later found two movie ticket stubs in his belongings and love letters Pappas wrote the boy stashed in the basement. In them, Pappas wrote of her jealousy over the teen's interest in a girl his age. She also threatened to kill herself.

The teen's parents kicked Pappas out of their home but they did not immediately contact police. Instead, they obtained counseling for their son. The counselor, who by law is required to report child abuse, called authorities.

Pappas admitted having an inappropriate relationship with the minor, which she said began years after he was her fifth-grade student. Pappas was arrested Feb. 11, 2006. She had been free on a $100,000 bond.

She resigned from Marquardt Elementary District 15 that Aug. 13, school officials said. She had worked in the school system since 1993.

Pappas did not have a prior criminal history. She faced four to 15 years in prison. Under the plea, Pappas must serve 85 percent of the prison term before being paroled.