A onetime substitute teacher at St. Paul charter school was put on probation and spared incarceration after admitting to having a sexual encounter with a student.
Probation for ex-substitute teacher at St. Paul school convicted of sexual encounter with student
The incident occurred inside a classroom, according to prosecutors.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
September 10, 2024 at 10:35PM
Caitlin K. Thao, 25, of St. Paul, was sentenced in Ramsey County District Court after pleading guilty to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the incident that happened early this year at St. Paul City School.
A possible two-year sentence was set aside in favor of five years probation. Thao also was ordered to perform 160 hours of community work service, follow the recommendations of a psychosexual evaluation and register with the state as a predatory offender.
Eric Fergen, interim executive director for the charter school on University Avenue W., said in May, at the time charges were filed, that Thao “hasn’t worked with us for quite a few months.”
According to the criminal complaint and a related court filing:
A teenage boy told police on March 13 that the two of them had a sexual encounter about 1½ months earlier in an otherwise empty middle school classroom where Thao taught. She later invited the teen to her home but he declined, according to the court documents.
After Thao resigned in late February, she reported the sexual conduct to a social worker while in the Regions Hospital mental health unit, according to the court documents.
No arrests have been made in connection with the incident in the Hamline-Midway neighborhood.
