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Sandy Carazas-Pinez (Facebook)
A 34-year-old high school biology teacher in New York has been arrested for allegedly luring a “mentally ill” 16-year-old student into multiple unlawful sexual encounters. Sandy Carazas-Pinez was taken into custody by federal authorities Wednesday morning and charged with one count of enticing a minor victim to engage in illegal sexual activity and one count of production of child pornography, authorities announced.
When the allegations against Carazas-Pinez first surfaced in March 2023, she was fired from her teaching role with the Bondi School in Yonkers, which specializes in educating “students with learning disabilities, emotional disorders, autism, and/or other health impairments.”
“As alleged, Ms. Carazas-Pinez, a former high school teacher, enticed one of her students to engage in sexual activity and live-stream sexually explicit conduct,” FBI Acting Assistant Director in Charge Christie M. Curtis said in a statement. “Teachers are entrusted to protect children under their supervision, not bring them harm. As today’s action demonstrates, the FBI remains steadfast in our commitment to bring justice to those who prey upon our youth.”
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the relationship between Carazas-Pinez and the victim began in November 2022 and continued through February 2023. During that time, authorities say Carazas-Pinez “abused her position as a teacher” by singling out the victim for personal attention at school and leading him to “believe that they were in a romantic relationship.”
The newly unsealed indictment alleges that the relationship began with Carazas-Pinez and the victim frequently exchanging text messages that became “increasingly sexual in nature.” She then used her personal cellphone to arrange sexual encounters with the victim and repeatedly induced him to “engage in live-streamed sexually explicit conduct” during video calls, per the document.
In text messages allegedly obtained from Carazas-Pinez’s electronic devices, authorities say she referred to the sexual encounters with the victim and their livestreamed video chats as “gifts.”
Investigators said they also recovered multiple “sexually suggestive” photographs Carazas-Pinez allegedly sent to the victim. After sending the photographs, Carazas-Pinez would instruct the victim to delete them and “repeatedly inquired” as to whether he had done so, prosecutors wrote in the indictment.
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“On multiple occasions while working on the premises of [the school], Carazas-Pinez, the defendant, directed Minor Victim in text messages to obtain day passes from [the school] to be permitted to leave campus,” the indictment states. “Carazas-Pinez then met Minor Victim at a location near [the school’s] campus and drove Minor Victim to another location. On multiple occasions, while parked in Carazas-Pinez’s car at various locations, including in or around the Bronx, Yonkers, and Staten Island, New York, Carazas-Pinez engaged in sexual intercourse and other sexual acts, and attempted to do so, with Minor Victim.”
Additionally, when the victim “expressed a desire to end their relationship,” Carazas-Pinez induced him to keep it going by “threatening to remove school privileges” if he stopped seeing her.
Carazas-Pinez was fired after school officials found out she and the victim were spotted in her car off campus and observed “in close contact” while in her classroom.
Carazas-Pinez faces maximum penalties of life in prison on the enticement charge and 30 years on the child pornography charge.
In an interview with the New York Post, the victim’s mother alleged that authorities “dragged their feet” in investigating Carazas-Pinez because her son is Black.
“It’s the rape of a child with a mental illness,” the mother told the Post. “As a society, we have to prioritize the safety of children who are mentally ill and boys who are sexually assaulted.”
Carazas-Pinez’s attorney, Mario Gallucci, did not immediately respond to a message from Law&Crime.
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