Judges in the federal system put a teacher behind bars on charges of sexually abusing a mentally sick student because she broke strict bail rules and was “a real danger to the community.”
Sandy Carazas-Pinez, 34, is charged with making child porn and having multiple sexual acts in her car with a 16-year-old boy who was one of her students at a city-funded school for kids with special needs in Yonkers. In recent New York history, this is one of the worst cases of sexual abuse by a teacher.
Brooklyn federal judge John Cronan took away Carazas-Pinez’s bail because she kept breaking the rules of her home confinement. She was caught in July and given bail, but she was told she couldn’t have any contact with a child under 18 without being watched.
After another student turned 18, the married mother of three wrote him to wish him a happy birthday.
Cronan said in a hearing that “it seems to fly in the face of the spirit of the conditions,” even though it wasn’t exactly a violation. Police said it was part of the teacher’s “pattern of grooming” a student for sex. In fact, her own lawyer said the behavior was “troubling.”
After telling Carazas-Pinez she was “a real danger to the community,” the judge threatened to lock her up if she didn’t follow the rules.
Last month, he learned that pre-trial supervisors had pointed out several violations, such as going to the mall and Applebee’s while on tightly limited outings. She got permission to cash her paycheck when she got it.
Instead, her GPS showed she went to a restaurant and bar on Staten Island and then to a grassy area.
After a fight at her parents’ house, where she was living after her husband kicked her out, she admitted that she used the check-cashing request “as a pretense.”
The 16-year-old with mental disabilities went to Biondi School for free thanks to the city DOE and Carazas-Pinez’s teaching. Rising Ground is a charity that runs it. They fired her in March 2023 after seeing her with the student in her car.