Star Tribune
Probation for ex-sub teacher at St. Paul school who had sexual encounter with student
A onetime substitute teacher at St. Paul charter school was put on probation and spared incarceration after admitting to having a sexual encounter with a student.
Caitlin K. Thao, 25, of St. Paul, was sentenced in Ramsey County District Court after pleading guilty to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the incident that happened early this year at St. Paul City School.
A possible two-year sentence was set aside in favor of five years probation. Thao also was ordered to perform 160 hours of community work service, follow the recommendations of a psychosexual evaluation and register with the state as a predatory offender.
Eric Fergen, interim executive director for the charter school on University Avenue West, said in May, at the time charges were filed, that Thao “hasn’t worked with us for quite a few months.”
According to the criminal complaint and a related court filing:
A teenage boy told police on March 13 that the two of them had a sexual encounter about 1½ months earlier in an otherwise empty middle school classroom where Thao taught. She later invited the teen to her home but he declined, according to the court documents.
After Thao resigned in late February, she reported the sexual conduct to a social worker while in the Regions Hospital mental health unit, according to the court documents.
LAFAYETTE, Wis. — About 25 children and adults were injured Wednesday when a wagon carrying them overturned at a western Wisconsin apple orchard.
The children, parents and chaperones were on a field trip to the orchard in Lafayette when one of two wagons being pulled by a tractor turned sideways and rolled over, Chippewa County Sheriff Travis Hakes told reporters. Hakes said the tractor was traveling at a low speed when the wagon rolled over while going downhill.
Three people suffered critical injuries, while injuries to five others were considered serious. Authorities didn’t say how many of the injured were children.
The elementary school-age children attend a school in Eau Claire. Lafayette is northeast of Eau Claire.
After about five minutes and several warnings that students participating in the protest would be suspended,, the protesters exited Northrop and Cunningham continued her speech. They later gathered outside on the mall afterwards to shout, “Cunningham, you will see, Palestine will be free.”
Cunningham recounted the story of Norman Borlaug, the U alumnus and agronomist whose research in wheat saved millions from starvation, and said she would prioritize keeping a college education affordable for students.
Cunningham actually took over presidential duties on July 1, replacing Interim President Jeff Ettinger. She oversees a budget of more than $4 billion to run the university’s five campuses, which enrolled more than 68,000 students and employed 27,000 people during the last academic year.
She was chosen for the job last winter over two other candidates: Laura Bloomberg, president of Cleveland State University and former dean of the U’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs, and James Holloway, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of New Mexico. She is the U’s second woman president, following Joan Gabel who held the office from 2019 to 2023.
Cunningham will be paid more than $1 million per year — about $975,000 in base pay and an additional $120,000 in retirement contributions. The compensation puts her in the top quarter of Big Ten university presidents.
Sgt. Gordon Blackey, once a security guard to Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, allegedly admitted to tracking the woman’s movements in her vehicle, according to a criminal complaint.
Read the original article
