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Queens Teacher Accused Of Affair With 14-Year-Old Student
By
Jen Chung
Published May 29, 2009
Modified May 29, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published May 29, 2009
Modified May 29, 2009
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A 27-year-old female social studies teacher at M.S. 8 in Jamaica, Queens was arrested for allegedly conducting a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old male student—in her second floor classroom. Melissa Weber was charged with statutory rape, sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child; prosecutors claim she told the boy, a student in one of her classes, "Don’t tell anyone. I could get arrested and I could lose my teaching license."
The boy's mother had heard talk of an inappropriate relationship (she was concerned because he was acting oddly) between her son and Weber, so she managed to get Weber's cell number and compared it to her son's phone...which had hundreds of messages from Weber over the past two months. One of the last ones read, "Erase your phone." The boy admitted to the affair and apparently had a calendar of their trysts. Weber and the boy allegedly had sex seven times between mid-April and mid-May and "on seven other occasions, she allegedly engaged in inappropriate behavior with the boy," according to the Post.
Weber is being held pending arraignment. Queens DA Richard Brown said, "The charges are very disturbing. A teacher is accused of preying on a young student who she is entrusted to teach. A classroom should always be a safe place for a child."
Tagged
allegation
Melissa Weber
queens
school
statutory rape
teacher
teacher student sex
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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