Educator Steals Student's Lunch Money, Gets Jail

(Oxnard, California) A 37-year-old special education assistant at Camarillo High School, Kristen Rene Santoya, was sentenced this week to 180 days in jail for stealing an autistic 13-year-old female student's lunch money a total of 57 times.

The girl suffers from severe autism and cannot speak so she could not complain, however, her mother, Shawn Spitzer, noticed that the 13-year-old was unusually hungry everyday after school. Spitzer expressed her concerns to school officials who launched an investigation. As a consequence, between September and November 2007, Santoya was caught by surveillance cameras on repeated occasions lifting $5 from the girl's lunch box.

In January, Santoya pleaded guilty to felony petty theft and misdemeanor child cruelty. Ventura County Superior Court Judge James P. Cloninger gave Santoya six months in jail, three years' probation and an order of restitution.

Furthermore, Santoya worked for 12 years as an employee for the Oxnard Unified School District before resigning in November. And, unbeknownst to school officials, she was convicted of grand theft in 2001 which typically would prompt a review of her employment suitability. It didn't happen.

On a different note, it's worthwhile to mention that Santoya's sentence for stealing a child's lunch money (180 days) is arguably harsher than the sentence imposed on Mary Winkler who killed her husband with a shotgun blast to the back while he was sleeping. Since I refer back to it regularly, it should be obvious that the disposition of the Winkler case continues to bother me.

Like a box of chocolates, you just don't know what you're going to get out of the U.S. justice system.