Teacher Rossi Sentenced to Jail

(San Bernardino, California) In March 2007, a former middle school teacher, Michelle Antoinette Rossi, was arrested for allegedly engaging in a year-long inappropriate relationship with a 14-year-old female student.

The molestation occurred between September 1998 and August 1999, when Rossi was an Arrowview Middle School math teacher and the student was 14 and 15, according to court records.

The former student alerted San Bernardino investigators of the inappropriate relationship and Orange County deputies made the arrest. Rossi was charged with 12 counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child and booked into the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga.

Last month, Rossi pleaded no contest to two counts of lewd acts on a child in accordance with a plea deal. In exchange, the prosecution dropped 10 other counts of lewd and lascivious acts.

Yesterday in San Bernardino Superior Court, the victim (name withheld) tearfully made a statement during which she called Rossi a pervert.

"You lied to me because I'm so meaningless to you," the woman sobbed. "I will never, ever be rid of you."

Subsequently, Rossi was formally sentenced to 180 days in the county jail and five years probation by Judge James Dorr. She loses her teaching credentials and must register as a sex offender for life.

According to the sentencing report, Rossi has moved on with her life after leaving teaching and now works as a housekeeper for $400 per month.

Tip: Don Morgenstern