Bad Love

Johnny Cuevas, 37, was a Spanish teacher at Randolph High School in Harlem. In 2005, he went on vacation to the Dominican Republic over spring break, and another teacher at his school saw him there, staying at the same hotel. But Cuevas was apparently vacationing with a special girlfriend--his student, Alenny Mercado, who was 18 at the time.

The teacher who says he saw the teacher and student together says he told their principal about it twice, but the principal brushed him off. When investigators started looking into the allegation, the principal brought Cuevas in for a meeting to get their stories straight over the MLK Day weekend earlier this year, paying him two days' salary for his time.

Cuevas and Alenny Mercado both deny that there was any relationship going on, though Mercado does say she was in the DR over Spring Break 2005 visiting relatives. She's now going to Fordham, and has refused to speak to investigators: "I spoke to someone, asking me questions, but I didn't know what it was about," she said. "The investigator wanted to meet with me, but I said no. He wouldn't tell me what it was about, and I was busy."

She also suggests that the accusing teacher, who is apparently black, was upset about "Latin culture" growing at the school, so attacked a Latino Spanish teacher as some sort of psycho-racial-sexual retaliation.

Cuevas is no longer teaching anyone irregular conjugation, but is doing administrative work during the investigation.

Posted by Amy at 10:02 AM | Permalink

Diane West, 52, was a Bayonne special ed teacher and guidance counselor whose affinity for young teenage boys went on almost entirely unchecked and unremarked upon for over 20 years at Bayonne High. She was accused of statutory rape in 2001, left her job, and finally pleaded guilty to sexual assault in 2005, but got off with just probation after her ex-colleagues and friends helped convince a judge of her good character.

The Times has a good piece on West's career as a teacher and counselor, and on her extra-curricular activities, which include groping a 13 year-old at a school dance in 1980, marrying a suicidal recent Bayonne High graduate in 1985 (when she was 31) who got her pregnant when he was in 11th grade, divorcing him in 1996, and then in 2001 taking up with one of her own son's friends, a 15 year-old whose parents for some reason allowed to move into her house.

What is this lady's problem? Well, for one thing, she says that she had an abusive boyfriend when she was 14, and that she got pregnant and gave her baby up for adoption. I think it's pretty obvious that this early relationship was the start of her fixation on young teenage boys, and it came up in the court's psychological evaluation of her.

And she also uses her difficult teenage experiences as an explanation for her adult behavior. According to the Times, "In talking about the relationships with a court-appointed psychiatrist last year, Ms. West said that when she took up with Steve and Chris, she thought it was acceptable because she had had a child at 14. Later, she said, she realized teenage boys can suffer emotional damage if they become sexually involved with an adult, especially an authority figure like a teacher."

No shit, Sherlock! But apparently her own boss saw her criminal sexual involvement with boys as just a foible, a part of West's personality, and not a dangerous and harmful act. “Diane has a thing for young boys,” said her former principal Daniel Doyle in a court statement.

West herself refused to be interviewed for the article.

Posted by Amy at 12:38 PM | Permalink

If parents should be able to trust anyone with their kids, you'd think it would be THE GUY WHO RUNS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S EFFORTS TO KEEP KIDS SAFE.

But, apparently, Mark Foley couldn't be trusted. The gay/not-gay/gay congressman had too much love to give those pages, and now he's the second-most famous pederast ever.

BUT, say his lawyers, let's not forget who the real victim is here: Why, it's the much maligned, alcoholic, abused-by-his-reverend Mark Foley! Just because he's a congressman in charge of efforts to keep predators away from kids, that's no reason to think he could keep his own demons at bay! Besides, "Any suggestion that Mark Foley is a pedophile is false!"

AND, say the Republicans, let's not forget who the real bad guys are here: Why, it's those terrible child-buggering Democrats! Why, isn't there a gay Democratic congressman from Massachusetts around here somewhere? And that guy who did the same thing 33 years ago! It's THEIR fault! And Bill Clinton's!

Yep, it was all those LIBERAL DEMOCRATS who made Foley have AIM-sex with his former pages while waiting to cast his vote for the war funding.

Posted by ADM at 11:50 PM | Permalink