Teacher facing charge of rape is suspended BY JIM MCGUIRE Gazette Reporter
A Broadalbin-Perth Middle School teacher was suspended with pay Thursday following her arrest for allegedly having sex with a 15-year-old boy she taught when he was in the eighth grade. Elizabeth A. Munn, 32, of Burdick Road, Gloversville, was arrested by state police Wednesday night on a charge of thirddegree rape. Munn joined the district fulltime in 2002 and taught middle school social studies. She is married and has two children. Fulton County District Attorney Louise K. Sira conducted a news conference Thursday morning to discuss the allegations, which she said stem from activities in the town of Perth during the summer. Sira would not discuss how state police were alerted to the case in recent days but said the information did not come from the boy or his family members. Munn was arraigned in Johnstown Town Court late Wednesday. Bail was set at $25,000 or $50,000 bond, but as of Thursday afternoon, Munn was still in jail. Her attorney, Michael W. Smrtic of Gloversville, declined to comment on the case. Sira would not disclose the location where Munn allegedly met the boy over the summer and declined to specify on how many occasions the activity allegedly took place. Munn was not teaching summer school this past summer, Sira said, she and added that Munn is not related to the former Broadalbin-Perth superintendent, Robert Munn. The boy was a former student, Sira said, but it was not clear whether he was in Elizabeth Munn’s class this past year or the year before. Sira said she will present the case to a grand jury and she anticipates that additional charges will be filed. The prosecutor said it is important for adults in positions of authority and trust to “maintain clear roles.” She said is it particularly offensive when adults violate that trust and victimize a child. Broadalbin-Perth Superintendent of Schools Sally A. Rojek said state police informed her of Munn’s arrest Wednesday night. She said she met with the faculty Thursday morning and meetings will be held this morning with students. Rojek said the situation will be diffi - cult for the students but said “middleschoolers are certainly old enough” to be told about it. By today, Rojek said, she expects that many of the students will have learned of the case in the news. At today’s meeting with students, she said, officials will answer questions truthfully. A substitute certified in social studies has been assigned to Munn’s classes, Rojek said. Erik P. Betz, a former elementary school teacher in Fonda-Fultonville and girls’ varsity swim coach of the combined Johnstown-Fonda-Fultonville team, was arrested in fall 2005 for having sex with a 16-yearold swimmer. He was sentenced in June 2006 to one year in jail after he pleaded guilty to third-degree rape. Betz, a husband and father, was 38 at the time of his arrest. A former Christian Brothers Academy teacher served six months in jail and had to register as a sex offender after pleading guilty in September 2005 to third-degree rape as part of a plea agreement. Sandra Beth Geisel, 42 at the time, of Latham, admitted that she had sex with a 16-year-old boy earlier that year at her home. Third-degree rape is punishable by a maximum sentence of 1 1/3 to 4 years in state prison.
By DAVID FILKINS, Staff writer Wednesday, June 4, 2008 JOHNSTOWN - A former Broadalbin-Perth Middle School teacher plead guilty today to rape for having sex with a 15-year-old boy who was her former student.
Elizabeth Munn, 33, was sentenced to six months in jail and 10 years' post-release supervision after pleading guilty to one count of third-degree rape, according to a statement from the Fulton County District Attorney's Office. Munn, a married mother of two has already served two months. She must register as a Level 1 sex offender, the lowest risk of three tiers the state uses to monitor sex offenders. Munn resigned from her job and surrendered her teaching license as part of the agreement. The statement said Munn sought psychological and psychiatric help because of her behavior even before she knew she was being investigated.
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