NEWYORK CITY: A former New York City public school teacher, Sandy Carazas-Pinez, has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for s3xually abusing a 16-year-old student at a special needs school.
The 36-year-old married mother of three from Bethel, Connecticut, was also handed five years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge John P. Cronan.
Prosecutors said Carazas-Pinez manipulated the victim into believing they were in a “romantic relationship between November 2022 and February 2023, while she worked at a city-funded Yonkers school for children with special needs.
Authorities revealed that Carazas-Pinez used her cellphone to text, call, and video chat with the boy, arranging in-person meetings across the Bronx, Yonkers, and Staten Island.
She even directed the teen to livestream explicit acts, calling them gifts, and pressured him to keep deleting their communications.
To enable their encounters, she allegedly told the student to secure day passes from school to leave the premises.
In one disturbing message, when discussing ending the abuse, Carazas-Pinez wrote: known for me it isn’t going to be easy, I will miss your kisses, hugs and everything.U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, described her actions as a grave betrayal:
Sexual exploitation by teachers offends every New Yorker. Sandy Carazas-Pinez betrayed her role and, through explicit texts and other means, coerced a 16-year-old into a sexual relationship.
Actions of this type by anyone, particularly a teacher or other person of trust, will not be tolerated.Carazas-Pinez was fired by Biondi School, which is operated by nonprofit Rising Ground, in March 2023.
Before her sentencing, the disgraced teacher was remanded after violating bail conditions. Despite being barred from unsupervised contact with minors, she emailed another former student just one day after he turned 18 to wish him a happy birthday behavior her lawyer admitted was troubling.
With this conviction, prosecutors say her case sends a strong warning that individuals in positions of trust will face the full weight of the law if they exploit children.
