Religions > Atheism > Re: USA's Prissy, Prurient, Puritanical, Pathetic Preoccupation with SEX -- Teacher/Coach faces 300 Years in prison for having sex with 17 year old student
| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"_ Prof. Jonez _" |
| Date: |
02 Mar 2007 12:47:10 PM |
| Object: |
Re: USA's Prissy, Prurient, Puritanical, Pathetic Preoccupation with SEX -- Teacher/Coach faces 300 Years in prison for having sex with 17 year old student |
Pneuma Pelosi wrote:
NFdL teacher in court on sex assault charges
By Sharon Roznik
The Reporter February 27, 2007
Cash bail of $5,000 was established Tuesday when high school teacher
Michael Burman made his initial appearance in Fond du Lac County
Circuit Court.
Burman, 35, an English teacher at Horace Mann High School in North
Fond du Lac, was formally charged with 10 counts of sexual assault of
a student by school staff and 10 counts of child enticement.
Newly appointed District Attorney Michael O'Rourke had requested that
intake Judge Robert Wirtz set cash bail at $25,000, noting the
severity of the crime.
Burman, of Oshkosh, also a track and cross country coach at Horace
Mann, is accused of carrying on a sexual relationship with a female
student who was 17 years old at the time and a senior at Horace Mann
during the 2005-06 school year and again, recently, when the former
student returned to the area, according to a criminal complaint.
Garbed in an orange jail jump suit, Burman was represented in court by
attorney Raymond Edelstein of Oshkosh, who cited his client's ties to
the area as a homeowner and married man with no prior criminal
history.
"He has taken the necessary steps to obtain counseling and has the
support of his friends and family," Edelstein told the court.
O'Rourke argued for higher bail, citing the defendant's apparent
attempt to "cover his tracks" by sending the former student his
statement (to police) and asking her to delete e-mails exchanged
between the two.
Wirtz ordered that the defendant have no contact with the former
student, now 18, and living in Georgia, or with Horace Mann High
School.
If convicted as charged, Burman faces more than 300 years in prison
on the 20 felony counts.
A preliminary hearing for the defendant has been set for 1:30 p.m.
March 29 in the courtroom of Judge Dale English.
Anonymous tip
Working on an anonymous tip, North Fond du Lac police arrested Burman
on Feb. 22 before he went to school.
The high school teacher told authorities the affair happened because
the student was "aggressive" and his marriage was "falling part,"
according to the criminal complaint.
But differing versions of what happened between the two were told to
authorities.
Burman told detectives the former student had a crush on him, but he
told her they had to "wait" until after graduation, the complaint
said.
He later changed his story when pressed after police armed themselves
with more information from the former student, according to the
complaint.
During a telephone interview, the former student told authorities she
didn't really want the relationship, which started in the middle of
her last semester at Horace Mann, the complaint said.
She numbered their sexual encounters at more than 70 and said the
encounters occurred almost daily in Burman's classroom during a
period in which she was supposed to be in study hall, the complaint
said.
Classroom door locked
She told authorities there were times when she and Burman were in the
classroom, and teachers would try to get in but the door was locked.
The two also met at a wayside outside Fond du Lac and at Burman's
home in Oshkosh, according to the complaint.
Burman said it was the former student who initially closed the door
of his classroom.
The former student told detectives that she told Burman no when it
came to "actual sex and intercourse" and that she performed oral sex
on him outside of school only.
When asked if Burman ever threatened her, the former student said
that Burman mentioned her grade one time because she wasn't getting a
good grade, according to the complaint.
Other sexual incidents allegedly occurred in an elevator during senior
banquet, in the track room at school and at the football field near
Friendship Learning Center in North Fond du Lac.
After court, O'Rourke said he wants to prosecute the case to the
"full extent of the law" and does not disagree with Wirtz ordering
the $5,000 cash bail since the defendant "has a stable history."
When asked if 20 charges were enough if the sexual encounters
occurred more than 70 times, O'Rourke said the complaint was
fashioned around a "representative amount."
The incidents happened on an almost daily basis throughout the
semester, the former student had told authorities.
Further charges are a possibly, O'Rourke said.
--
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