School Security Guard Preyed on Teen Girls: Police

A Chicago public schools security guard, you know, whose job was to protect. students, is now accused of sexually. assaulting two teenage girls over. several years. And court documents. reveal especially disturbing details. 48-year-old Heather Pancer is facing two. felony counts of criminal sexual. assault, and prosecutors alleged that. this abuse happened right under the. school's nose. We are going to break. down the horrifying details of this case. with a Chicago based trial attorney. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

We cover unfortunately a lot of cases. like this. Usually it's a teacher that's. accused of crossing the line with a. student. I mean, we cover that almost. every week. This time, this story, it's. somebody else inside the school. It's. very different. Somebody whose job was, ironically, to be keeping kids safe. A. Chicago public schools security guard is. now accused of sexually assaulting two. teenage girls over several years. Prosecutors say they allege that.

48-year-old Heather Pancer allegedly. abused these girls between 2018 and 2021. while working at George Washington High. School. And what's in this newly. released warrant makes this case even. more disturbing because investigators. say that Pancer actually sent a photo of. herself in bed with one victim to the. sister of another victim. Yeah, let's. process that allegation for a second. So. before we even get into the really. disturbing parts of this warrant, I want. to back up because this case is very.

wild. This all centers around Heather. Pancer, a Chicago public school security. guard who again worked at George. Washington High School. This is on the. city's southeast side. And investigators. claim that between 2018 and 2021, while. she was supposed to be protecting. students, she was actually sexually. assaulting two teenage girls who. attended the school. Now, according to. court documents that were reviewed and. cited by WGN, the first victim had. apparently told investigators that this. abuse started around September 2018 when. she was just 15 years old and allegedly.

continued through December 2019. That's. a long time period. And during that. time, prosecutors claimed that Pancer. not only assaulted her multiple times, but also maintained contact with her. even after the student left the school. And that is when things took an even. darker turn because according to the. same warrant, investigators alleged that. Pancer had sent a photo of herself in. bed with a second victim and sent it to. the sister of the first girl. That's how. detectives say they discovered there was.

a second student involved. And that. second victim, who was also apparently a. student at George Washington High, told. police that her abuse happened between. February 2019 and March 2020 when she. was 16 and 17 years old. Now, her family. had already suspected that something was. off. So, they told police they thought. her relationship with Pancer was quote. abnormal, that Pancer was buying her. clothes and shoes, which, you know, allegation being very, very weird. Now, the victims were later interviewed, and. this is important, during what's called. a CPD lockin. This was at the Chicago.

Children's Advocacy Center, where they. gave detailed statements about what had. happened. Now, a lockin or forensic. interview, if you're not familiar, is a. scheduled structured interview session. that's organized by police where. victims, often minors, can provide. detailed statements about sensitive. allegations in a safe environment. Very. important to have this. And after that, a warrant was issued for Pancer's. arrest. And according to Cook County. Sheriff's Office records, she turned. herself in on October 15th. After news. of her arrest broke, Chicago Public.

Schools, they released a statement. confirming that an employee had been. taken into custody. Quote, Chicago. Public Schools CPS remains committed to. maintaining safe, ethical, and. supportive learning environments for. every student and staff member. The. district continually reviews and. strengthens its safeguards, including. robust ethics training, oversight. procedures, and accountability measures. to protect our school communities. CPS. actively works to prevent sexual abuse. and addresses all reports of abuse. thoroughly and all the appropriate. investigatory departments and agencies.

District leaders and staff continuously. strive to educate leaders, faculty, and. students on the topic and the reporting. process. Employees are expected to. follow all rules and policies set by the. Chicago Board of Education, and there. are processes and procedures for. reporting and investigating any alleged. violations. While CPS does not comment. on specific personnel matters or active. investigations, the district follows a. consistent process when allegations of. misconduct are reported. Employees found. to have violated board policy are. subject to disciplinary action up to and.

including termination. So, it's. important to understand what criminal. sexual assault means under Illinois law. because that is exactly what Heather. Pancer is charged with. So to help break. that down, break down all legal aspects. of this case, I want to bring in Bryce. Hensley, who is a Chicago based trial. attorney, deep experience in. institutional sex abuse cases. Bryce, thank you so much for coming here on. Sidebar. We really appreciate it. >> Thanks for having me, Jesse. Appreciate. it. >> Before we got on, I said, and this is. something I mentioned at the top, we. usually cover cases where it's. educators, where it's teachers, um, who.

coaches who are accused of this. To have. a guard accused of this. Is this. something that you've seen before? And. how do those cases different? >> Well, it is something we've seen before. I mean, unfortunately, the Chicago. public schools as a whole have a sorted. history of sexual abuse and sexual. assault from individuals in positions of. authority. And this isn't just limited. to teachers. It expands out to. administrators, staff members, and. unfortunately, we have seen.

circumstances with security guards in. the past where something like this has. happened. How do prosecutors decide, okay, these are the charges that we're. going to file in a case where, let's say. you have a school employee, a te, maybe. not a teacher, maybe a guard is accused. of sexually abusing or assaulting uh. multiple minors over several years. What. are the charges that you could be. looking at here? And when you talk, and. we'll talk about the specific charge. that's that's being leveled here, but. how do you determine what the charges. are?

>> Sure. So, I mean, a prosecutor is going. to look at a wide variety of. circumstances. They're going to look at. the various statutes. Under Illinois. law, you have statutes for things like. criminal sexual assault, criminal sexual. abuse. Then you also have aggravated. criminal sexual assault, which in a. circumstance like this is a very likely. charge that could or should be brought. mainly because an aggravated criminal. sexual assault typically will involve an. individual like this who is in a. position of trust or authority. Now, obviously, this is a story that we.

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The alleged sending of a sexually. explicit image of one victim to a third. party in and of itself is pretty. shocking to say the least. But how does. that escalate the case? How does that. escalate maybe the severity of the. charges under Illinois law? >> Sure. So there are a variety of statutes. that are out there that can govern the. sharing of material, sexually explicit. material, especially if that sharing of. explicit material involves minors. So. prosecutors going to look at all of.

those facts to determine under Illinois. law which portion of the statute they. should bring charges under. >> What's the evidence so far in this case. that stands out to you that maybe was a. challenge in collecting or maybe that's. going to be very important for. prosecutors in securing a conviction. here? Well, I think in a case like this, I think the the information that you're. going to be relying on a lot is. testimony from the victims themselves. Um, you know, in my role here on the. civil side, we are always looking at. information about what the school knew.

and when. And a lot of that goes beyond. just the facts of this specific case. In. the criminal case, you are going to be. confined to the facts of this case. But. on the civil side, you're always looking. at the policies, the patterns, and the. practices within the Chicago public. schools, which as you may or may not be. aware, and I'm happy to go into the. details on this, is extremely extremely. detailed. >> So, what do you mean by that? >> So, back in, I believe it was the late.

2010s, the Chicago Tribune actually. released a series. They called it the. betrayed series. And the whole impetus. behind it was this feeling that people. within the Chicagoland community felt. like the leadership, the people that are. in these positions of trust and. authority were betraying the students. and the parents that relied on them to. take care of them. And so you can. imagine you go and you drop your kids. off at school every day. It's the last. place you'd ever imagine that they would. be subjected to something like this. But.

what this series found was that on a. weekly basis, literally a weekly basis, over 500 allegations. of sexual abuse taking place at the. Chicago public schools in a 10-year. period of time. It it was shocking to. hear that. But as you look deeper into. things like the Office of the Inspector. General, which conducts reports into. specific allegations of abuse, you'll. find that at some of these high schools,

you have cadres of teachers that are. abusing students at the same time, grooming them, preparing them to be. abused both while they're minors and. immediately after they're graduating. And so this is something that the board. of education and the Chicago schools. have known about now for decades and. have refused to curtail. This is just. the latest in a long line of incidents. that they've had to encounter and face. public scrutiny over. >> Yeah. And this one's now getting a lot. of attention, too. That's a pretty.

disturbing point they make. Um, we. mentioned before the purpose of lockins, right? These CPD blockins. Um, and I. imagine they might be used in a lot of. these cases, right? Where you create a. situation where these alleged victims, these minor victims, let's say, have an. opportunity to reveal this information. in kind of a controlled safe setting. Um, can you talk to us a little bit more. about how these work and how important. they are for prosecution's case? >> Yeah, I mean, I think it's it's vital to. prosecution case and I think it's vital.

to ensuring that victims are heard. I. think too often what you see in these. situations is that the individuals that. are charged are people that these. students come to know and to trust, right? And so when that trust is broken, there's an inherent distrust that's then. fostered where they don't feel like. coming forward. And so these lockins. where they're basically hosting these. events to to come and and have people. talk about what they've experienced are. critical. We see it time and again where.

people are afraid to come forward and it. isn't until that first individual does. that the floodgates start to open and. more information uh is revealed over. time. >> What are defenses to something like. this? >> Um well it's a it's a great question and. I candidly I'm not too sure. Um on the. civil side a lot of times what the. school districts will try to argue is. that they didn't have notice right? That. they didn't know that this was going on. these were the actions of a one-off.

rogue individual who was doing this on. their own time and the school district. couldn't possibly have known. But again, when you have decades of this kind of. behavior, it raises questions with. respect to hiring practices. How are you. conducting background checks when people. are hired? How are you supervising these. individuals? Are students being left. alone or put in a position where they. have to be left alone with these people? And especially with the CPD's history, they have to be aware of this and they.

have to take steps to ensure that. students aren't put in a precarious. position with people who are predators. On the criminal side, it rises to a. level of intent. But unfortunately, when. you're dealing with somebody who is a. minor, the defenses really kind of go. out the window. There's not a specific. intent requirement. And if you're caught. with somebody who is underage like it. appears that this security guard was. that the number of defenses that are. available to you are severely limited. >> I mean suggesting it didn't happen. Uh.

this is totally a lie which can be. complicated when you have digital. evidence. Right. So I I want to talk a. little bit more about the charges in. this case. So you have here two counts. of criminal sexual assault. Now in. Illinois this isn't a misdemeanor. It is. a felony. It is a serious felony. Under. the Illinois statute. This is when. someone, our understanding, commits. criminal sexual assault when they commit. an act of sexual penetration. And then. there's also this other component that. one of a few specific things is true. Here's a key part. Position of trust or.

authority. That's what prosecutors often. lean on when you have a teacher, a. coach, a school employee accused of. crossing a line with a student. Bryce, can you explain to us why you have that. specific carveout here? Um how that. changes the way the case is charged. um. and how we define a position of a trust. or authority. Would that be a guard? >> Absolutely. I mean, especially at a. school at a CPS school, right? I mean, you have these people, they are. mandatory reporters under the law. If.

you're working in a Chicago public. school, you are a mandatory reporter. under the law. And these individuals are. put in this position and they are held. out to the students as individuals. They. tell students if you have an incident. where you are being um sexually. assaulted by somebody whether it's a. family member or a teacher or a security. guard anybody and you report that it is. the onus is on that individual including. the security guard or the teachers at.

the school to make a report to DCFS and. other law enforcement agencies. And so. it's all about the representations that. the schools hold these people out to, right? I mean, you you're you are. cloaking these people in authority by. saying these are security officers. These are people that are there to. protect you. They are there to ensure. that there is public safety and it is. the school district that is bestowing. them with this with this title, with. this authority. and yet they're the ones.

that are turning around and abusing, assaulting, and in some cases like this. one, raping the students that are there. Um, and so it's it's absolutely. something that is warranted by the the. charges that have been brought as you. read the statute. >> Yeah, that power imbalance is key. We. see that in a lot of different states. why they have these specific laws on the. books. Just to be clear, if you have. alleged abuse that continued outside. outside of a school setting, outside of. school hours, off school grounds, in.

your uh in your experience, does the. position of trust element, would that. still apply? >> Oh, absolutely. And and I think it's. it's one of the main reasons why you see. in the Chicago public schools, they have. policies that they're supposed to be. following, that they're supposed to be. instructing their teachers on that. there's not supposed to be contact with. students like that outside of school. And I don't just mean sexual contact. I. mean doing favors for students, you. know, giving students rides home because. the policies lay out the exact line of.

thinking that's there, which is the. school district knows that if you start. breaking down those walls where teachers. or security guards can start taking. students home from school off of school. property, they start doing little. favors. That's grooming. you're. beginning to groom these students and. you're beginning to set up a situation. where the comfort bounds are being. broken down between the students and. these individuals with the positions of. trust and authority. And so, while I. don't know all of the facts of this.

specific case, what we've seen time and. time again is that these relationships, they begin on school grounds. There are. signs, there are pieces of evidence that. begin showing up that show a. relationship starting to form. And then. it's the little steps over time, right? It's, "Hey, let me give you a ride home. Oh, your mom couldn't pick you up today. I can take you to the park. I can take. you to your basketball game." And what. that does, especially for students, young students, who again see these. people as being in a position of trust.

with them. They begin to put their trust. in these people. And that's typically. what the predators look for, right? they. they begin to form these relationships. where gradually over time they can start. taking advantage of these students who. frankly don't know any better and they. shouldn't know any better. They're. they're children. >> It's an important point. I want to get. to that as we talk about, you know, grooming tactics in a second. Um but. just to go back to this, I mentioned. it's a serious felony. It's our. understanding uh under Illinois law. we're looking at a class one felony.

comes with a potential prison sentence, our understanding of 4 to 15 years. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but if. that is true, if she takes this to. trial, if someone like this is. convicted, given these allegations, and. you're looking at two charges, what. potentially could a defendant look look. for here? I mean, what could they be. looking at? Well, I mean, there is a very real. possibility that these charges are um. you know, levied against the defendant. and they're they're levied. consecutively, meaning if the court.

finds based on the evidence that the. charges warrant the maximum penalty, possibly the 15 years, there is a. possibility of that individual going to. prison for decades. I will tell you, we. just had a case here at our office where. an individual was accused of something. very similar. This was a dean of. students at a Chicago public school who. had a relationship and I I struggle to. even call it a relationship, but. basically began a grooming situation. with a student, carried that out over. years and he was just sentenced to 22.

years uh in prison for what for what he. did and that was a finding of an. aggravated criminal sexual assault and. some other lesser included offenses as. well. U but 22 years in prison. So, I. would imagine here that the prosecutor. is probably going to pursue the full. extent of that based on the evidence. They're going to pursue as much as they. can, and that could be decades of time. in prison. >> There's a detail here that we were kind. of talking about before in the Pancer. warrant that immediately brings to mind. a pattern that we've seen in other.

school employee misconduct cases that. we've covered or talked about because. investigators say they allege that. Pancer bought clothes and shoes for one. of the victims. Now, on its own might. seem pretty innocent, but prosecutors, they often present that kind of behavior. as grooming, right? Part of establishing. trust, breaking down those walls, those. barriers, that dependency before the. sexual abuse occurs. And we've seen a. strikingly similar dynamic, an. allegation in the Britney Foronberry. case. For anybody who's been following. us on Cybar, you know about this because.

according to the Foronberry affidavit, one alleged victim said that she. purchased $600 worth of clothing and. shoes for him during a mall trip only to. later bring him and his friends back to. the house to be abused. Now Bryce, going. back to this, when prosecutors bring up. these things, the clothes, the gifts, the clothing, the timeline, that tells a story, that tells a. pattern. What is their ability to bring. all of that in? And how do defense. attorneys fight back against that? Do.

they say, "Hey, this is overly. prejuditial. This isn't relevant." Um, oh, it's innocuous. You're making more. of it than it is. But it does tell an. important part of the story if you're. looking at precursor behaviors. Right. >> Right. And and and certainly a defense. attorney is going to try to keep that. evidence out as much as possible. But I. think what most capable prosecutors. would try to do, or at least what we. would do on the civil side, is we would. likely bring in a psychological expert. that can talk about this pattern of.

behavior and why it leads to this type. of conduct. Right? You've hit the nail. on the head. It breaks down the walls, right? You have an individual who is. already being held out as being somebody. that these children should trust, should. be able to go to. And now all of a. sudden, this person is beginning the. grooming behavior by doing these small. favors. And those small favors, they. build up over time. And it increases the. trust more and more and more until all. of a sudden there is that defining. moment where the predator is going to.

make a physical gesture of some kind. And at that point, a minor student. psychologically has already been. preconditioned to trust this person both. by the school but then also by these. actions over time. And so it's not. surprising that this is the exact. pattern that we see time and time again. both in this case and the Foronberry. case that you just mentioned. >> And speaking of the patterns that we've. seen before, I just want to quickly talk. about another case that also shows how. someone in a position of trust can.

allegedly exploit their role. Because we. go back to Alabama. There was Michaela. Caldwell Hajins, this cheer coach, this. teacher who on the surface seemed to. have the dream life, a college. sweetheart, two kids, job she clearly. loved. She'd grown up in the area, cheered on a scholarship at the. University of West Alabama, returned. home to coach at Randolph County High. School, and there were posts that were. welcoming her to the school. They. highlighted her experience, her local. roots, excitement to build the cheer. program. Again, her life seemed picture. perfect. However, a Randolph County.

grand jury indicted Hajins for allegedly. having sex with a male student. And. these allegations revealed a darker. side, potentially showing how someone in. a trusted position can allegedly cross. serious boundaries. Because Hajins's. case was particularly shocking since it. came from a small community where people. likely knew her personally. It makes the. alleged breach of trust even more. striking. And the reason we're bringing. it up is because it kind of echoes the. dynamics that we see in the Heather. Pancer case. someone in a role meant to. support and protect young people,

allegedly using that trust to manipulate. and harm them. And it is a pattern that. prosecutors often highlight to establish. grooming and power imbalance and. premeditation. But Bryce, you also think. about it here. You know, it's hard to. imagine this happening, right? It's hard. to think about this happening. And I. wonder if that ever becomes difficult. for prosecutors to say to a jury, despite all outward appearances, despite. maybe nothing in the past, despite. someone having a perfect home life,

everything's perfect on the surface to. do this. Do you think it's hard. sometimes to find a jury that will. believe somebody could do something like. this unless you have just concrete. forensic evidence or digital evidence? >> You know, Jesse, it's it's interesting. I think if you'd asked me this question. a decade ago, maybe even five, six, seven years ago, um I would say you're. probably going to run into that inertia. with the jury, right? Of getting over. this hump of, you know, these these.

people who tend to on the outward. appearances are the perfect candidate, right? I'm I'm thinking of a Chicago. public school teacher who I think two. years prior to revelations about his. misconduct was awarded the Chicago. Teacher of the Year or something similar. to that, right? He's he's held out as. being the top teacher in the district. And yet these revelations come out. But. I think nowadays what you're seeing more. and more is the availability of digital. evidence whether it's on Facebook,

Instagram, Snapchat is a popular one too. because people think that with the. disappearing messages they can't get. caught. But in a lot of ways what. happens over time is these predators. they they become emboldened, right? It. starts off where they're very cautious. about what they're doing. They they make. sure to to cover their steps. They also. will make sure to emphasize to the. victims why they need to keep it quiet. And that's another grooming tactic that. we see time and time again. But over.

time, as as these relationships go on, these inappropriate relationships, you. see that those walls start coming down. People get sloppy. People begin sending. messages where they shouldn't be. And. eventually what happens is that evidence. goes before a jury. And so the defense. in these cases can hold these people up. as being these paragonss of the. community, but more and more what we're. seeing is that the digital evidence and. the digital footprints of these. individuals are becoming too much to. overcome. And so I think that juries are.

obviously in the modern day and age. always looking for that type of. evidence. and we're seeing it more and. more and it's incredibly difficult I. think for these perpetrators to cover up. this extensive misconduct especially. when it's taking place over weeks over. months over years and just to add to. that point if you have somebody who's. charged um with with abusing multiple. victims over a period of time do you. usually see that in one trial or will. you have defense attorneys who will say. that's overly prejuditial that there are.

parts to one allegation that maybe. prejudice the concrete allegations, the. concrete set of facts for one uh victim. or do you usually see all these cases. grouped together, multiple victims all. coming together, all the evidence? Um I. I wonder how that works exactly. >> Yeah, I I would think in the criminal. sense you you typically have individual. trials. I think the point that you raise. is is spot on that defense attorneys are. going to raise the flag of prejuditial. evidence and having to prove cases. within a case. On the civil side though,

more frequently what we're seeing is. that courts are open to consolidating. these types of cases and allowing. victims to come together and voice their. feelings as a group. And I think that's. the right decision. At the end of the. day, when you have these people that are. carrying these types of actions out. against minors and against vulnerable. individuals, people that are trusting. them, I think that that evidence has to. come in to demonstrate things like. motive, opportunity, all of the things. that we know that there are exceptions. to the rules about prior bad acts and.

things like that coming into evidence. >> No, that's a good point. And look, for. Pancer, she's being held without bond. ahead of her November 5th court date. Just another disturbing set of. allegations. But Bryce, thank you so. much for taking the time. Really. appreciate it. >> Yeah, thank you. Appreciate you having. me on. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcast. You can follow me on X. or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time.

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