Sentenced: Former Alpena Teacher Charged With Multiple Counts Of Criminal Sexual Conduct

[Sugar Cookie]

A Michigan special education teacher has been pictured sobbing in her mugshot after being charged with multiple counts of sexual misconduct involving children.

Heather Winfield, 38, was arrested last week following a lengthy investigation that began back in 2016 when she was working as a teacher at Thunder Bay Junior High School in Alpena.

Winfield is facing up to life in prison if she is found guilty of the various charges that stem incidents with at least one child under the age of 13 years.

She was charged on Monday with two counts of first degree criminal sexual conduct with a child younger than 13 and one count of first degree criminal sexual conduct during the commission of a felony.

Winfield is also charged with a count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a child ages 13 to 15, accosting a minor for immoral purposes and using a computer to commit a crime.

Police have not confirmed if the charges relate to one under age victim, or if Winfield is accused of having multiple child victims.

It is also not clear if the alleged victim or victims were Winfield's students.

The investigation was based on allegations between 2016 and July 2018.

Winfield worked as a special education teacher at the junior high school from 2012 until she resigned in 2016.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6595373/Teacher-sobs-mugshot-charged-child-sex-conduct.html

 

[Craygor]

Awwww, she has the sads.

 

[ghosttruck]

That's not a pretty cry!

 

[Brillig]

I first read the headline as "Alpaca teacher", and wondered if she taught alpacas or if she was one.

 

[Old Man Metal]

Hey, Special Ed kids need lovin' too.

 

[Sejanus]

Going after special education kids that are even under 16 is such a level of sick fuckary. This b**** needs to be put away forever

 

[notchback]

Going after special education kids that are even under 16 is such a level of sick fuckary. This b**** needs to be put away forever

It may not have been one of the "special" kids.

It is also not clear if the alleged victim or victims were Winfield's students.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

A former Alpena Public Schools special education teacher accused of having sex with one of her students for nearly three years has been bound over to 26th Circuit Court after a preliminary examination that lasted almost three days in 88th District Court.

On Friday, the defense told JLaCross the case should be thrown out because the boy lacks credibility, as proven by some of the outlandish claims he made. The defense also pointed out that, besides the hotel stays, there was little other physical evidence.

The boy’s three smartphones and Winfield’s phones were sent to the MSP crime lab and there were only three pieces of potential evidence found: A partially nude photo of Winfield that the defense believed was doctored by the accuser, a short video that shows the boy lifting Winfield’s shirt and bra, and an ultrasound image the boy said Winfield sent him indicating she was pregnant but which the defense said was likely downloaded from the internet because the image includes a portion of a Google search bar.

There was also no DNA evidence found in tests done to blankets, pillows and cushions from places the boy claimed to have had sex in the Winfields’ home. One of the test results did show the materials were recently cleaned.

Before announcing his decision Friday, Judge LaCross recessed the courtroom for about an hour to sort through the evidence and testimony.

“If I only had to judge on the boy’s testimony and nothing else, I would toss this case and have no problem doing it, because of the exaggeration he indicated,” LaCross said when he returned to the courtroom. “But we have evidence that substantiates and corroborates his circumstantial evidence that there was an improper relationship between two troubled people. Are his exaggerations to be believed? Absolutely not. But does that mean we aren’t to believe anything? No, no, no.”

Winfield bound over on sexual assault charges

ALPENA —A former Alpena Public Schools special education teacher accused of having sex with one of her students for nearly three years has been bound over to 26th Circuit Court after a preliminary examination that lasted almost three days in 88th District Court. Heather Winfield, who taught at...

www.thealpenanews.com

 

[LFODBiker]

'I would toss this case and have no problem doing it...'

I think that's judge speak for 'this case is bullshit but we had to have a sense of fairness in the preliminaries'

After that speech I bet even an overworked public defender can win this case.

 

[Totemic]

Why does a boy under the age of 13 need 3 smartphones? Something isn't sitting right with this one.

 

[Turd Fergusen]

Why does a boy under the age of 13 need 3 smartphones? Something isn't sitting right with this one.

Was thinking the same thing.......

 

[Sugar Cookie]

Former Alpena Public Schools teacher Heather Winfield left the Alpena County Courthouse in handcuffs Friday after a judge said she deliberately pursued a sexual relationship with a child.

Winfield will spend nine months in jail for accosting a child for immoral purposes.

A jury in September found the former teacher guilty of the charge during a three-week trial in which it acquitted her of sexually assaulting a former student when he was between 11 and 13 years old.

Judge Roy Hayes on Friday sentenced Winfield to five years’ probation and nine months’ incarceration, the maximum jail time recommended by the Michigan Department of Corrections.

Winfield will have to register as a sex offender for 25 years.

According to the student, Winfield plied him with expensive gifts and included him in her family life, ultimately leading to a sexual relationship that lasted for two years, until he told police about the relationship when he was 13.

Winfield denied the allegations, saying she erred in caring too much about the boy and crossing lines of appropriate behavior, but did not enter a sexual relationship with him.

The jury found evidence given at the trial insufficient to prove the alleged sexual encounters took place. They found Winfield guilty on a lesser charge of accosting a minor for immoral purposes, which carries a maximum four-year penalty for some offenders with prior high-severity felony convictions.

Before imposing sentence, Hayes said he rejected Winfield’s claim that she only wanted to help the student by building a relationship with him. He believed she deliberately preyed on the child with sexual intent, Hayes said.

“This defendant solicited and actively pursued a romantic relationship with a child,” Hayes said, calling the sexual abuse of children among the most serious of crimes.

Winfield’s attorneys argued for no jail time or house arrest only for their client, saying she poses no danger to the community and learned any lesson she needed to learn from a community that judged her guilty before her case even went to court.

Wojda compared Winfield’s desire to help the boy to a drug or gambling addiction, saying she compulsively made poor choices about her relationship with the child.

The jury, by their verdict, said Winfield crossed a line, but not a sexual one, Wojda said.

Winfield told the court she has lived as a social outcast since her arrest, which has cost her her career. Publicity about her case brought attention from national media outlets and death threats that made her afraid to go into public, she said.

She understood Hayes had to sentence her, but, “I just ask that the last two years be considered as part of that punishment,” she told the judge.

Two family members shared victim impact statements on behalf of the student, who was not present for sentencing. The victim’s grandmother, enumerating reasons she believes her grandson’s story of sexual abuse, said she worries Winfield will hurt more children.

“She needs some help, no doubt about it,” the grandmother said, asking Hayes to consider a stiff sentence. “But she also needs to spend some time locked up.”

Winfield will serve nine months in the Alpena County jail. Her five years’ probation includes restrictions on contact with children other than her own. She will register as a sex offender for 25 years.

WITH VIDEO: Judge sentences Winfield to 9 months, says former teacher pursued sexual relationship with child

ALPENA — Former Alpena Public Schools teacher Heather Winfield left the Alpena County Courthouse in handcuffs Friday after a judge said she deliberately pursued a sexual relationship with a child. Winfield will spend nine months in jail for accosting a child for immoral purposes. A jury in...

www.thealpenanews.com

 

[Turd Fergusen]

Well, this is one where we'll never know all the details. We'll just have to trust that the judge and jury that did made the right decisions.

 

[Sevens My Charm]

She’s already spent 2.5 years in jail .. doesn’t get credit for time served .. judge tacks on another 9 months .. but you always read that child murders get credit for time served .. I think she is guilty of inappropriateness in ways we will never get the truth .. but murders we see get less time and probation .. weird ..