Pennsylvania

Chester County Teacher Pleads Guilty in Student Sexual Relationship Case

A former teacher at a Chester County boys school must serve probation after admitting to corrupting one of her students during a sexual relationship that police said lasted nearly a year.

Sarah O'Neill pleaded guilty to two counts of corruption of a minor last week, according to court documents.

A judge imposed a sentence of five years probation, 100 hours of community service and that she can't have unsupervised contact with any minors. She also must undergo a mental health evaluation.

A note O'Neill left inside the Church Farm School, an all-boys private school in Exton, Pennsylvania led to her resignation after teaching there for eight years.

"The thought that I could love so deeply and so wrongly pervaded before you and I even officially began," O'Neill allegedly wrote the teen. "It was quite a long winter break before my lips even attempted yours and I wondered if you were as affected as I."

The 35-year-old Coatesville woman met the boy at school. The teen, who was 17 at the time of O'Neill's arrest, told police he began a relationship with her in January 2014, when he was 16. The two expressed their love for one another and began a relationship that lasted 10 months, according to investigators.

The teen claimed he and O'Neill shared their first kiss at a Motel 6 in King of Prussia in February 2014 then kissed again at the motel in March to celebrate O'Neill's birthday.

The teen also told police he and O'Neill engaged in oral sex several times in her car, the Motel 6 as well as in Narberth Park in Narberth, Pennsylvania over the summer.

A custodian also told police she found O'Neill and the teen in a locked classroom with the lights turned off on three occasions. On one occasion the custodian claimed O'Neill told her she was helping the teen with extra credit. On another occasion, the custodian said O'Neill's stocking appeared to be disheveled and torn.

Police also discovered hundreds of phone calls and emails between O'Neill and the teen, according to an affidavit. In one email, police said the teen asked O'Neill what she was wearing. O'Neill allegedly replied by saying, "I should be wearing sexy clothing for you when you ask that. Like some tight underwear or nothing. But I am too formal for such outlandishness."

School staff said they found a love note O'Neill wrote to the teen on a school printer in May and she was asked to resign. Even after her resignation however, O'Neill still visited the teen, according to police.

O'Neill allegedly picked up the teen and drove him to the Extended Stay America in Exton, Pennsylvania, in November to have oral sex even though he didn't have permission to leave school grounds. He returned to the school after receiving several phone calls from school staff members who were trying to find him, police said.

After the investigation, O'Neill was arrested and charged with four counts of corruption of minors. She pleaded to two counts. As part of her probation she can continue to share her home with her husband and he can possess a firearm.

Contact Us