No Jail: Teacher Did Boy Thinking of Ex-Husband

(Downey, California) In April 2007, a 53-year-old special ed teacher's assistant at Downey High School, Jean Panzo-Montalbano, was arrested for allegedly engaging in sex with a 16-year-old boy.

Panzo-Montalbano worked for a county-wide special program which placed her in contact with the boy whom she allegedly raped at various locations, including his home. The Downey Police Department was alerted to the situation by the victim.

In May, Panzo-Montalbano pleaded not guilty in Downey Superior Court to six felony counts of unlawful sexual intercourse and one felony count of oral copulation of a person under 18.

A plea deal specifying no jail was then presented to Panzo-Montalbano which she accepted. For a guilty plea to one count of unlawful sex with a minor, Panzo-Montalbano was sentenced by Downey Superior Court Judge Burt Barnett to probation, house arrest and community service. Even so, Panzo-Montalbano complained afterward that she had been "railroaded" into accepting the deal.

Jean Panzo-Montalbano, 54, also acknowledged that she had engaged in repeated sex with the 16-year-old student and became an unhealthy distraction for him at a time when he was struggling in school.

"I'm guilty in a way that, as an adult, I should have not let this kid get into my head," she told the Press-Telegram. "It's like a little kid. If you don't keep them occupied, they'll find a toy instead."

Then she added: "I was that toy for that kid."

Panzo-Montalbano, a Bellflower resident with no prior record, was charged in April with six felony counts of unlawful sex with a minor and one count of oral copulation of a person under 18. She agreed to plead guilty to one count of unlawful sex with a minor in exchange for a sentence of three years probation, plus 45 days of house arrest and 800 hours of community service.

And she had more to say about how the boy initiated the relationship, how she laughed it off at first and how the special education environment is so lax that children are allowed to be overtly sexual. Panzo-Montalbano also said the boy reminded her of her ex-husband.

In rebuttal, Sandi Gibbons of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office reminded everyone that Panzo-Montalbano pleaded guilty. "That's self-explanatory. She can rationalize it any way she wants," said Gibbons.

Heh.

Tip: Don