A 51 year old agriculture teacher in both Costa Rica’s high school and primary school, was sentenced to 45 years in prison for paying students between ¢15,000 and ¢20,000 colones (US$30 and $40) to have sex with him.
The sentence was handed down in a Bribri, Talamanca, court in Limon province. The judges extended defendant Jorge Alberto Conejo’s preventive detention for another six months while his sentence is automatically given a review by an appeals court.
The panel of judges dismissed several serious charges but found Conejo guilty of two counts of rape, one of sexual relations with minors, three counts of sexual acts for money with minors and two counts of sexual abuse of minors.
According to court testimony, the crimes occurred in 2010, involving victims between the ages of 10 and 16 years old. Among 17 witnesses testifying in the trial were fellow teachers and persons close to the victims.
But Conejo is not the only teacher abusing his position of confidence. Under investigation is another teacher in a Puntarenas high school who is accused of raping a 15-year-old student. The professor is a neighbor of the girl and is accused of raping her during a home visit.
Still another case surfaced last June when the principal and a teacher at San Marcos Scientific Institute at El Llano in Alajuela province were accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old student.
La Nacion reported that authorities have warned parents to keep watch on their school-age children and to report suspicious activities in the teacher-student relationship.
