‘I’VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT’ SAYS PROSECUTOR IN SEX CRIME CASE
ST. ALBANS: Josie Spears, 33, of Highgate was in court today for her arraignment on one count of Lewd and Lascivious Conduct with a child.
Spears, up until recently, was an employee of the Highgate Elementary School where she had day-to-day interactions with the now 10-year-old boy that is listed as the victim in the case.
A message seeking comment was not immediately returned by Superintendent Winton Goodrich or the Highgate Elementary School.
The court file indicates that the boy was at least as young as nine years old when Spears allegedly began communicating with the victim inappropriately through social media.
Defense Attorney Jessica Burke spoke for her client after the arraignment in which Spears plead not guilty on Tuesday morning.
“We’re really looking forward to providing a various defense in this case,” Burke told the County Courier and Channel 3 News after the arraignment, “This is an individual that needs an opportunity to tell her side of the case.”
According to court records, the boy’s mother was going through her son’s social media account when she came upon nude photographs and conversations with Spears.
The County Courier has a policy, generally, not to disclose names of victims in sex cases or identities of those close to the victims to allow readers to easily identify the victim.
[bar group=”87″]
The investigating officer, Trooper Richard Stepien, said in a written statement to the Court that the mother provided him with more than 100 pages of conversation between the defendant and the boy.
At one point the defendant told the boy that she loved him, and “there was content about valentine’s day and the defendant getting a gift for (the victim),” according to Stepien.
Also attached to those messages were about 10 photographs, allegedly depicting Spears’ breasts and reproductive parts, which were sent from Spears to the victim, according to court records.
[bar group=”86″]
The victim told police that there was never any physical contact between the two, but investigators say they found conversations between the two of the boys could “play with her boobs, again.”
Police also said that there were conversations between the two where Spears’ told the boy to delete the messages after reading them.
Spears has a son, about the same age as the victim in the case, according to court records, indicating that the son’s were good friends and the victim spent some time at Spear’s home.
Trooper Stepien indicated to the County Courier that the investigation is ongoing and that there may be other victims, but that is yet to be determined.
State’s Attorney Jim Hughes said that the case appears to be “an attempt to have a peer-to-peer relationship.”
[bar group=”88″]
The County Courier has learned that the photographs were sent through the social media platform, Instagram.
“It’s something that I haven’t ever seen,” veteran prosecutor of 30 years Jim Hughes said Tuesday, adding, “We trust our educators and paraeducators to be professional and to have a detachment between their relationship with the student and having a potential relationship with the student in their charge,” Hughes said.
Huges said that police seized a cell phone from Spears, which they plan to have the State Crime Lab search for evidence related to the case.
Judge Gregory Rainville released Spears on a $5,000 appearance bond, which means she did not have to put up the money to be released, just that she would agree to pay a $5,000 bond if she did not show up to court for future hearings.
She was also given conditions of release that included not having any contact with the victim or family. She will also not be allowed to use social media or attend any events which young boys would likely attend while her case is going through the court process.
[bar group=”88″]
