A 56-year-old teacher who was formerly employed by the Department of Defense Education Activity will now spend the rest of his natural life in prison for sexually abusing a total of four students between the ages of 6 and 8 years old. In my opinion, this guy is getting off way too easy. I truly believe that anyone who harms a child in this way should face the death penalty. If justice is supposed to be restorative, this only makes sense, as what was taken from these children, their innocence, cannot be restored.
“From 2001 to 2021, Stefan Zappey taught first through third grade at Patch Elementary, a school on a U.S. military base near Stuggart, Germany. Zappey was convicted by a federal jury in January of four counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child and four counts of abusive sexual contact, according to the Department of Justice. He was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday,” a report from the Daily Wire revealed.
“Zappey’s offenses are especially egregious because he was entrusted with teaching the children of our brave service members overseas,” Kenneth Polite Jr., the assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s Criminal Division, went on to say. “The courage of the victims and the perseverance of investigators and prosecutors ensured that Zappey’s offenses were exposed and will prevent him from abusing even more children.”
Back in 2020, one of Zappey’s former students informed Army criminal investigators that the teacher had touched her under her clothing while was attending the school during the 2009 and 2010 school year. She also revealed that Zappey called her up to his desk during class and fondled her repeatedly. The victim was just 8-years-old at the time the abuse occurred. She stated that she didn’t report the crime right away because she wasn’t aware that what he was doing to her was wrong, court documents said.
You have to wonder if she ever told her parents what happened. It seems likely she didn’t, if she really didn’t know what was happening to her was wrong. But again, why did her mom and dad not teach her that such contact was a bad thing? Every parent should be teaching their kids about inappropriate touching and to not allow that kind of contact if they can help it. The parents bare some sort of culpability in this situation.
“After launching an investigation, officials found that Zappey sexually abused at least four of his students by touching them on multiple occasions and placing his hands inside their underwear to touch their genitals,” the Daily Wire said.
“Other students and even some faculty members said they saw Zappey hug students multiple times and had them sit on his lap, touching their backs and stomachs under their clothes, the DOJ press release said. One faculty member said Zappey “would train students to become ‘touchy-feely,’” according to court documents,” the report stated.
The FBI has now partnered up with the Army Criminal Investigation Division in looking into the case. The case itself is part of a Justice Department Initiative designed to fight against sexual exploitation of minors.
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