Story Created:
Sep 6, 2008 at 4:09 PM EST
Story Updated:
Sep 6, 2008 at 4:09 PM EST
CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) — A school band teacher faces child molestation charges for allegedly having sex with one of his 14-year-old students repeatedly at the school over a 10-month period.
James Ciammetti, 41, of Oak Lawn, Ill., was charged Friday with five felonies — two counts of child molesting, two counts of sexual misconduct with a minor and one count of child solicitation. He was being held Saturday at the Lake County Jail on a $160,000 bail.
Ciammetti had sex multiple times on school grounds with a girl who was in one of his eighth-grade classes at Clark Middle/High School in Hammond, according to Lake County Criminal Court records.
His alleged activities were discovered by the girl's father, who was using a computer program that tracks his children's activities on the family's computers.
Ciammetti and the girl had traded more than 1,100 e-mails, most of them sexual or obscene in nature, prosecutors said. He had been the girl's band teacher since sixth grade.
The girl told investigators she and her teacher "sort of have a relationship" in which she and Ciammetti spent time together in the band room or his office, court records shows.
Their friendship turned sexual in nature in November 2007, police said.
Court records state that at various times, the two had sex in Ciammetti's office, the band storage room and main band room. Court records state that they had intercourse 10 times, with the last sex act taking place about two weeks ago.
Ciammetti "always told her that he loved her," the girl is quoted in court records as saying. He told the girl they would get married and have children together when they got older, records show.
Ciammetti was suspended without pay because of the "seriousness of the situation," Hammond schools Superintendent Walter Watkins said Thursday.
Ciammetti has taught for 16 years and has a master's degree and a teaching license that will expire next July, according to state education records.
A state-maintained class roster shows that last school year, Ciammetti taught a multiple-grade instrumental music class and concert band classes for high school students.
The roster also lists Ciammetti as a "middle level adviser" for eighth-graders.
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Information from: The Times, http://www.thetimesonline.com
Wednesday, Sep 10 at 11:27 AM Go Black wrote ...
Funny how nobody wants to talk about it when it right in front of their faces too! How pathetic!