Grant High School teacher accused of supplying booze, drugs to students
A Grant High School teacher accused of paying two teenage girls with marijuana, alcohol and Zoloft for doing work around her Ingleside home said Wednesday the charges are false.
Kym Krocza, 41, of the 36000 block of Wilson Road, was charged early Tuesday with two counts of contributing to the criminal delinquency of a juvenile, a felony, said Sgt. Christopher Thompson of the Lake County sheriff's department.
If found guilty, Krocza could be sentenced to up to six years in prison.
Krocza fought back tears and anger as she declared her innocence Wednesday, saying the girls were pointing the finger at her for their own mistakes.
"I am pleading not guilty and I will fight these lies to no end," Krocza said. "I really want to know what happened to those two girls and why they decided to go after me in this slanderous way. What kind of trouble did they get into that they would ruin my entire life?"
Krocza, a calculus and algebra teacher hired at Fox Lake-based Grant High School District 124 in 2000, has been suspended pending an investigation, Superintendent John Benedetti said.
Krocza has been released from Lake County jail after posting 10 percent of her $50,000 bond Tuesday night. She is due back in court Sept. 18, but has been told by the sheriff's department that she is not permitted on school grounds or allowed to be in contact with any students.
Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran said Krocza befriended the girls before they became Grant freshmen and asked the them to do work around her home.
At some point after January, Curran said Krocza began paying the girls for their work with marijuana, alcohol and Zoloft, a prescription drug used to treat depression.
The situation continued through August, Curran said, after the teens entered high school and became students in one of Krocza's math classes.
Police began investigating after a parent of one of the girls contacted the sheriff's department, Curran said.
Krocza said she was suspended without pay and that she has been "presumed guilty by Grant."
"I never even knew what Zoloft was until after the police explained it to me," she said. "I have no idea where they got that from."
Other students may have been to Krocza's home and supplied with drugs or alcohol, Thompson said. Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's department at (847) 377-4000.
Curran said additional charges could be added in the future, pending the results of the investigation.
Benedetti would not comment on the criminal charges.
"Per our district policy, we do not discuss personnel issues in the media," he said.
Krocza said she has been contacted by numerous parents and former students offering support in the wake of the charges.
"Students and parents have been calling me and said they would go to court to back me up," she said. "I never bought alcohol or drugs for any student ever. No one ever."
Refutes: Grant has suspended teacher without pay