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"Horndog High" Teacher Goes On Offensive, Husband Reportedly Wants Divorce


By

Ben Yakas

Published Jun 2, 2012

Modified Jun 2, 2012


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Erin Sayar's mugshot

 


By

Ben Yakas

Published Jun 2, 2012

Modified Jun 2, 2012


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This is the week that keeps on giving when it comes to lusty tabloid headline writers: married 36-year-old English teacher Erin Sayar, who taught at "Horndog High" James Madison High School, turned herself in and was charged with statutory rape for repeatedly having sex with a 16-year-old student. Sayar was released on $10,000 bail late yesterday, but things unsurprisingly don't sound so good at home: “He’s very angry. He’s very embarrassed,” a source close to Jimmy Lathrop, Sayar’s husband, told the Post. “He’s already talking about getting a divorce lawyer. I don’t think this marriage will last.” At least this probably wasn't another one of their trusty 16-year-old sources.

The Post says Lathrop was cold to his wife when she appeared in court yesterday, where she was formally charged with statutory rape, marijuana possession, criminal sex act, sexual misconduct, and sexual abuse. Prosecutors said there were at least "eight instances of sexual intercourse and oral sex" between her and 16-year-old Kevin Eng, including several encounters in her SUV and in her office. The two also exchanged 3,856 texts and nearly 20 phone calls during the affair, and their source said the sheer number of exchanges convinced Lathrop that something went on between his wife and Eng.

Sayar has also been accused of giving the teen marijuana from her desk, but her lawyer has gone on the offensive on that count: Virginia Lopreto said it was the student who had access to drugs, and called the timing "very suspicious." "The complaining witness was suspended from school well before…for brazenly selling pot on the grounds of the school," she said. In addition, she went after Eng's former girlfriend—who had hacked into Eng's Facebook, found message, and reported the illicit affair—saying she had once been “hospitalized as emotionally unstable.”

Eng's lawyer Bruce Baron, who is representing the family in a lawsuit against the city, slammed Lopreto for dredging up his client’s past: "While it's certainly a ridiculous defense to statutory rape, it may very well be the basis to a defamation suit against the defendant and her legal eagle.” A source told the News that Eng's suspension actually stemmed from the pot Kevin received from Sayar.

Tagged

brooklyn

divorce

erin sayar

horndog high

james madison high school

kevin eng

rape

Student

teacher


Ben Yakas

Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations


Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations


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