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Bethel resident Sandy Carazas-Pinez, age 34, has been indicted on charges related to her alleged sexual exploitation of one of her students while she was employed at a school in Yonkers, the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced on Wednesday, July 12.
According to federal officials, Carazas-Pinez once served as a teacher at an unnamed school for kindergarten through 12th-grade students in Yonkers.
While employed at the school, from around November 2022 through February 2023, Carazas-Pinez abused this position by enticing a then 16-year-old female student into a sexual relationship with her, officials continued.
The relationship allegedly began when Carazas-Pinez singled out the student for personal attention and convinced her to engage in sexual activity by making her believe they shared a romantic relationship.
Carazas-Pinez would then use her personal cell phone to call, text, and video call the student in order to arrange sexual encounters as well as to induce her to participate in live-streamed sexually explicit conduct over video calls. In some of these text messages, Carazas-Pinez allegedly referred to these encounters and video calls as "gifts."
In order to arrange these sexual encounters outside of the school, Carazas-Pinez would tell the student over text to get day passes from the administration so she could be allowed to leave the campus.
She would then meet the student at a location near the campus and drive her somewhere else, including places in the Bronx, Yonkers, and Staten Island.
While parked in her car, Carazas-Pinez would then engage in sexual intercourse and other acts with the student, federal officials said.
Additionally, Carazas-Pinez also allegedly used her cell phone to send the student sexually explicit photos of herself and explicit text messages.
She would then instruct the student to delete the messages afterward and would repeatedly ask her if she had done so yet.
Carazas-Pinez was arrested on Wednesday morning and presented in Manhattan federal court. She faces the following charges:
- One count of enticing a minor victim to engage in illegal sexual activity, which carries a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 10 years and a maximum sentence of life in prison;
- One count of production of child pornography, which carries a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.
US Attorney Damian Williams said Carazas-Pinez "exploited the trust placed in her as a teacher to sexually abuse a teenage student in her care."
"Today’s indictment makes clear that my office will continue to tirelessly pursue sexual predators of all forms – especially those who are entrusted to care for children – and hold them accountable to the fullest extent under the law," Williams continued.
FBI Acting Assistant Director in Charge Christie M. Curtis also commented on the case.
"Teachers are entrusted to protect children under their supervision, not bring them harm. As today’s action demonstrates, the FBI remains steadfast in our commitment to bring justice to those who prey upon our youth," she said.
Anyone who believes they have information relevant to the investigation is asked to call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip at tips.fbi.gov.
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