Teacher and married mother of three 'had sex with student, 17, and sent him racy text messages and X-rated videos'
By SNEJANA FARBEROV
A high school math teacher from Pennsylvania has been charged with having sex with a student and sending the 17-year-old inappropriate text messages and videos. Erica Ann Ginnetti, a 33-year-old married mother of three, was arraigned Friday on more than a dozen charges of institutional sexual assault, corruption of minor and disseminating obscene materials to a minor. According to investigators, the math and calculus teacher at Lower Moreland High School first approached the victim last May during the senior prom, inviting him to come work out at her gym. A few days later the 17-year-old responded to Ginnetti with a text message, and the two began communicating on a daily basis.
The criminal complaint against Ginnetti says that over the next several months, the educator sent the minor sexually explicit text messages, photos depicting her wearing bikini, a thong and other underwear, and videos showing the woman undressing suggestively and performing a sexual act on herself, according to The Bucks County Courier Times. According to officials, the illicit relationship culminated in July 2013 when Ginnetti and the male student met for coffee in a Philadelphia Starbucks and then drove to an industrial park to have sex in in the teacher's car. The 33-year-old then allegedly dropped off her paramour back at the coffee shop and asked him not to tell anyone about their encounter. The trim, raven-haired teacher appeared at the District Court in Willow Grove this morning for her arraignment wearing a plaid jacket and large sunglasses, as seen on the local ABC.
She was released on $50,000 bail pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for Valentine’s Day, February 14. As part of her bail condition, Ginnetti has been forbidden to have unsupervised contact with any minors except for her own children, ages 8, 11 and 14. She must also surrender her passport, and the authorities will keep track on her using a GPS device. Lower Moreland School District Superintendent Dr. Marykay Feeley said in a statement this morning that the math, calculus and algebra teacher has been placed on an administrative leave ahead of her impending termination. The allegations against the married mother-of-three came to light Wednesday when police got a tip from someone who had overhead students at Lower Moreland discussing X-rated pictures showing a minor and Ginnetti doing 'sexual things.'
When police questioned the 17-year-old boy, the teen came clean about his affair with Ginnetti, who also confessed to having a relationship with the student, police said.
‘I would say that she treated her relationship with this student as she would have treated a relationship with an adult with whom she was involved,’ Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman told The Mercury News.
Police said they found several texts the lovers had exchanged discussing their July outing and one mentioning ‘a used condom that had been left in Ginnetti’s vehicle,’ according to the criminal complaint.
On the night of the alleged tryst, after he returned home, the student told police he got a text from Ginnetti asking him to ‘do it again.’