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Female teacher avoids jail time over sex tape with 16-year-old student

Long Island teacher gets six years probation and 15 years on sexual offenders registry

ANTOINETTE KELLY,

IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Wednesday, June 20, 2012, 8:38 AM

Updated Wednesday, June 20, 2012, 8:38 AM

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Tara Driscoll

Photo by Google Images

Tara Driscoll, a Long Island, New York, high-school teacher who made a sex tape with a 16-year-old pupil has avoided a jail sentence. The 34-year-old teacher has been sentenced to six years probation.

The English teacher’s story hit the news last August when she was nabbed by the boy’s family. The 16-year-old had told his mother that Driscoll had driven him to a motel and filmed them together in bed.

The police then discovered the video of the teacher performing sex acts with her pupil at the Capri Motel, in Lynbrook.

At the time, a spokesperson for the Nassau County Police Department told the New York Post “This was a one-time incident in which she picked up the victim in Queens and drove him to the Capri Motel in Lynbrook.The victim's mother found out about this and confronted him, and he admitted it."

Earlier this March, according to Patch, Driscoll pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct as part of a plea deal.

She is now registered as a “Level 1” sex offender (the least serious / non violent offender) and has surrendered her teaching license. She will remain on the sex offender list for 15 years.

Driscoll had worked at Campus Magnet High School in Queens for five years. She was charged with third-degree rape and third-degree criminal sexual act.

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eiriamach | Jun 26, 2012, 07:37 AM EDT

SingleDonald, At least one of the men who testified against Jerry Sandusky at his trial was 13 when the 3-times-weekly assaults began, and the assaults continued for 3 years. So he was 16 when they ended--in your view, too old to count as a victim of pedophilia? Then what WOULD you call it-- "a tryst"??? Get real! "Ill effects" may take years to develop in youth, especially in the most vulnerable, who lack parental love or attention. The first reports of Sandusky's pedophilia surfaced many years before he was charged with any crime, but his charity staff and his Penn State administrators protected him and allowed the abuse of children and adolescents to continue. The fact that you call a case of sexual exploitation of a minor "a tryst" tells us where your head is at. All children and minors need the full protection of the law, regardless of how sophisticated they are. For the courts to consider her victim older than he was (she was "spared" the charge of statutory rape) increases the danger to youth and tells 16-year-olds that they're on their own when adults try to exploit them sexually. How will that message help decrease sexual abuse cases?

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SingleDonald | Jun 22, 2012, 08:57 PM EDT

eiriamach, I DO deplore the double standard! If a 16-year old girl showed no ill effects from a tryst with a guy 5 years or more older than her, then the courts should go easy on the man. In New York, the older partner must be at least 5 years older than the younger partner for it to be considered statutary rape. This charge was spared for Tara Driscoll, which I feel was just. Concerning pedophiles, their victims are significantly younger than 16. They are usually of pre puberty age, which makes the crime so repulsive. Older minors are more sophisticated than sub teens.

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eiriamach | Jun 21, 2012, 10:10 AM EDT

SingleDonald, are you blind to the harm caused by your ridiculous double standard? Just read some of the earlier comments by people who think women sex abusers get off easy while pedophile men go to prison! They have only to consider the thousands of priests world-wide who are known pedophiles but living in freedom (and probably still raping!). There's no factual basis for such idiotic attitudes, but your celebration of the Mrs Robinsons and your three cheers for her victim contribute to bigoted mindset.

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SingleDonald | Jun 21, 2012, 12:38 AM EDT

I feel that, man or woman, the impact the tryst had on the supposed victim should be the mitigating circumstance for sentencing. This boy, though under the age of consent in N.Y. (17) apparently suffered no ill effects from the encounter. In fact, when he turns 18, he may again seek her out, and there is nothing anybody will be able to do about it. Yes, boys can learn the proper ways to satisfy a woman, having a "Mrs. Robinson" as a partner. There is indeed a double standard, which can be rectified by "victim" impact. Overall, I feel we are overprotecting older minors. Today's kids are more sexually aware than baby boomers were, during our teens. In fact, a high school classmate recently learned from a girl classmate that many girls WERE being intimate with their boyfriends, back in the day. He said that "you could have knocked me over with a feather"!! The difference was that baby boomer girls "did it" with one, not several boyfriends. Oh yes, there were exceptions!

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faberm1 | Jun 20, 2012, 07:18 PM EDT

Wow. I see these over and over again. Back when I was in High School we only dreamed of being harassed by good-looking teachers. The comments here are so true. If this had been a male teacher he would have been castrated and sent to prison for life.

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Curitiba | Jun 20, 2012, 04:43 PM EDT

What an idiot. I can't imagine why any teacher would imagine such behaviour was acceptable. It's just as bad as a doctor having sex with his/her patients. Teaching tends to attract a lot of people her own age, so why couldn't she hook up with another teacher instead?

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Seanmor | Jun 20, 2012, 12:18 PM EDT

Had the student just turned 16 or was he almost 17? In my platoon in the Marine Corpse at Capm Lejune, there were 2 17-years old privates, one of whom had enlisted on his birthday- both were very interested in girls. No one eves called either 17-year old marine a child, a boy or a kid; there were always called men. I'm of the impression that the 16-year old studend was as mature as either of these marines and I'm glad that his teacher didn't receive a prison sentence.

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hollabackgurl | Jun 20, 2012, 12:02 PM EDT

The fact that you blame the gays for this shows what an asshat you are, PhlutiePhan. Do you blame the gays for the epidemic of sex trafficking and prostitution engulfing the United States, where women are abused, raped and discarded by their pimps and clients every day? I bet you do. If a male teacher had slept with this 16 year old student he'd be in prison now. That's how the PhlutiePhans of this world roll.

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IrishDragoon | Jun 20, 2012, 11:51 AM EDT

Had it been a MALE teacher making a sex tape with a female student you can just bet HE'D get jail time! Ain't equality great?

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PhlutiePhan | Jun 20, 2012, 11:14 AM EDT

As a a recently retired public school teacher, I can tell you that this is becoming more and more common because the teachers' unions are lenient to interactions between teachers and students. Randi Weingarten is the well known president of the AFT and a major booster for President Obama. I am still a retired member of the AFT and note the large influx of gay individuals into positions of authority in both the union and the school districts. For this particular teacher, there was no semblance of a concept of right and wrong. Only mom saw it as wrong. Obviously, the young man was thrilled and the teacher obviously felt that it was a positive learning experience for the young man.

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