I might have a new name for that Repuke Sex Offender List

[Infomaniac]

The NYT ran a story today about a guidance counselor in NJ who got away with molesting teenage boys for more than 2 decades. Buried in the article was a quote from one of the former school administrators who said he suspected her family business and political connections allowed her to skate without consquences for her actions. That quote tweaked my interest so I decided to see if I could find out her political affiliation from any free websites. I couldn't find it for free so I checked the NJ Board of Elections political contributions database. It looks like Dad or her brother contributed to a republican candidate in 2001. Hmmm. I'm wondering what "political connections" helped this woman get away with statutory rape. In NJ the age of consent is 16 unless the person is a parent or guardian or teacher, in which case it's 18.



A History of Sex With Students, Unchallenged
By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI
BAYONNE, N.J. — Many in this gray, insular city are at a loss to explain why Diane Cherchio West was allowed to continue working in the public school system for two decades after she was caught in 1980 kissing and groping a 13-year-old student at an eighth-grade dance.
Why, after her promotion to guidance counselor at Bayonne High School, no one alerted social services, school officials or the police when she became pregnant by an 11th grader she supervised, Steven West, and married him upon his graduation in 1985.

Or why, when that baby, Steven Jr., grew to be a teenager, no one balked as his 15-year-old friend moved in with Ms. West, who then seduced the friend with Scooby-Doo boxer shorts and evening jaunts to sports bars and used her school authority to rearrange his classes around their secret trysts.

It was not until 2001, when relatives of the boy, Christopher Castlegrande, filed a complaint with the police of statutory rape against Ms. West, that she left her $74,000-a-year job and lost her unfettered access to Bayonne High School’s students.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/10/nyregion/10teacher.html?ref=nyregion&pagewanted=print

http://www.elec.state.nj.us/ElecWeb/ElecReport/ContribByContributorsActiveXViewer.asp?pageFrom=SimpleSearch&s=&LastName=cherchio&FirstName=john