Federal Judge Gives Teacher 25 Years For Sexually Abusing Her 16-Year-Old Student

YONKERS, NY — A former teacher who sexually abused her teen victim at a Westchester County school for special needs students will pay for her crimes in federal prison.

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced on Friday that Sandy Carazas-Pinez was sentenced to 25 years in prison for enticing a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity. Her sentence was imposed by the U.S. District Judge John P. Cronan, who also presided over her guilty plea.

"Sexual exploitation by teachers offends every New Yorker," Clayton said. "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 a high school teacher at a school for troubled kindergarten through 12th grade students located in Yonkers. From November 2022 through February 2023, she abused her position as a teacher at the school by inducing and attempting to induce a student into a sexual relationship. The student was 16 years old at the time of the abuse.

Carazas-Pinez singled out the victim for personal attention at school. In addition, she induced the victim to engage in sexual activity with her by leading the victim to believe that they were in a romantic relationship.

Carazas-Pinez used her personal cellphone to call, text, and video call the student to arrange sexual encounters and to repeatedly induce the victim to engage in live-streamed sexually explicit conduct while on video calls. In text messages with the victim, she referred to her sexual encounters with the student and the live depictions of sexually explicit conduct she demanded be created as "gifts."

The former teacher also used her personal cellphone to send the victim sexually suggestive photographs of herself along with sexually explicit text messages. After sending the photographs and messages, Carazas-Pinez instructed the student to delete them.

To facilitate their sexual encounters outside of school, Carazas-Pinez directed the student, in text messages, to get day passes from school to be permitted to leave campus. She then met the victim near campus and drove the student to another location. On multiple occasions, while parked in her car in the Bronx, Yonkers, and Staten Island, she engaged in sexual intercourse and other sexual acts, and attempted to do so, with the student.

In addition to the prison term, the 36-year-old, from Bethel, Connecticut, was sentenced to five years of supervised release.