Teacher Who Preyed on Special Needs Student Gets Locked Up

This is a horrifying case that once. again shakes trust in those we expect to. protect our children. Teachers Sandy. Kazas Pinez, a biology teacher, groomed. and sexually exploited a 16-year-old. student with special needs through. texts, video calls, secret off-campus. meetings. But now the justice system has. finally caught up with her, and this. predator is going away for a very long. time. We're going to break down the.

shocking details and what it means for. the victim, the school, the law, and. we're going to break it all down with a. former criminal prosecutor. Welcome to. Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm. Jesse Weber. [Music]. You know, it is really, really hard to. imagine how disturbing this case is. because you have a New York teacher, you. know, entrusted with the care, the. education of vulnerable students who is. accused of using her position to.

sexually exploit a 16-year-old student. at a special needs school. We're talking. about Sandy Karazzas Pinez. and her. actions, prosecutors say, were. calculated, manipulative, deeply. predatory. And I'm going to give you. fair warning right now to brace yourself. for what's to come. This 36-year-old. teacher, she is accused of taking. advantage of a teen with mental health. challenges, convinced him they were in a. romantic relationship, arranged sexual. encounters, and even coerced him into.

live streamed sexual acts. all while. maintaining her facade as a trusted. educator. This is the story put forward. by prosecutors. Oh, and by the way, I. should mention that Karaz Pinez is a. married mother with three children of. her own. Okay. Now, after years of. manipulation and abuse, this former. teacher is finally facing the. consequences. And this case goes back to. January of 2022 when Sandy Kazes Pinez.

was a biology teacher at the Beyond. School. It's a young it's a yoner school. for students with special needs. It's. run by the nonprofit Rising Ground. So. between January of 2022 and March of. 2023, she had a student in her class, a. 16-year-old boy who became the target of. her grooming and abuse. And according to. the federal indictment, yes, brought up. on federal charges, around November of. 2022, Kurz Pinz began singling out the.

student for personal attention. She. exchanged frequent text messages with. him, and that escalated into sexual. content and conduct. And let me tell. you, that is very consistent with what. we talk about here on Sidebar. And one. of those texts that was reviewed by the. New York Post read, "I know for me it. isn't going to be easy. I will miss your. kisses, hugs, and everything. That text, by the way, was reportedly in reference. to a discussion the two had over whether. they should end their relationship. Now,

the government alleged that Kuras Pinez. also used her personal phone to call, text, video chat, arrange sexual. encounters, and even persuade this teen. to engage in live stream sexually. explicit conduct. Prosecutors noted that. she referred to these encounters as. gifts, framing sexual abuse as some sort. of twisted token. But the abuse wasn't. confined to digital interactions. No. According to prosecutors, while at. school, Caraz Pinez, she touched the.

student inappropriately and convinced. him to touch her over her clothing. She. escalated further by instructing the. student to obtain day passes to actually. leave campus so she can meet him off. school grounds. She is accused of. driving him to multiple locations, including the Bronx, Yoner, Staten. Island, where sexual encounters. occurred. And even when the student. apparently tried to end this. relationship, the indictment says that. she coerced him to continue by. threatening to remove school privileges.

She concealed the abuse from the school. until February of 2023 when officials. apparently noticed her off-campus with. the teen, observed close contact in the. classroom. She was terminated from her. position at the school, but I will tell. you the termination didn't stop her. The. indictment details how Kurazus Pinez. continued communicating with the. student, including sending texts from a. new phone number, instructing him to. delete prior messages. She was arrested. a few months after she was fired in July. of 2023. But I will tell you, her legal.

troubles, they didn't end when she was. arrested. We're going to get into that. But first, to help me break all this. down, I want to bring on a special. guest. I want to bring on Dan Shore, former criminal prosecutor. He also. leads a sexual misconduct investigation. firm that works with schools and. educational institutions. And he's an. author. He's an author. And a book, by. the way, Dan has a book that is just. every time we bring him on, it's. unfortunately very uh similar and. consistent with what we're talking. about. Real quick, Dan, tell everybody. about your book. >> Sure. So, my latest novel is called Open.

Bar. came out last month and it's about. high-profile sexual misconduct. allegations at a school based on my. investigations and it's similar to these. type of conduct that you're talking. about. I try to show the real world. aspects of it in a fictionalized. setting. >> Can I just say what you told me uh. before we came on? You said, "Are there. any teachers left?" Because every time. we have you on, it's like another. educator is accused of this horrific. behavior. While this is consistent with. what we talk about, does this one feel.

different? How does it compare to other. cases maybe that you've handled? >> Right. Well, I think the fact that it's. a special needs student from a special. needs school shows even more. vulnerability on the part of the victim. and more of a power play by the teacher. And I think a lot of these cases involve. people in a position of power and a. position of trust to abuse that position. of power and trust and take advantage of. someone. And here it's even more. egregious because it is someone from a. special needs school and it's ongoing. It's not a one-time incident. So there's. a lot of factors here that make it even.

more aggravating to learn about. >> If I tell you about inappropriate. touching or if I tell you about sexually. explicit messages, that's clearcut. However, when you look at the beginning. of this relationship or certain aspects. of this as laid up in the indictment, is. it tough to know when that ethical or. legal boundary is crossed between a. teacher and a student or is it. relatively simple? Is it relatively. clear? I mean, what are those ethical or. legal boundaries? Is it anytime, you.

know, they exchange text messages? That's a problem. It steps beyond what's. appropriate. What are you looking out. for when we talk about red flags? >> Well, that's a great question. I look. into those issues as an investigator. now, and I did as a sex crimes. prosecutor. There are certain conduct. such as touching another person's. intimate areas, genitals, breasts, buttocks, or kissing that's clearly. crosses the line that is illegal, immoral, and also unethical for a. teacher to do. Then there's problems. because there's a lot of gray areas and. often sex abuse like this does not start.

with explicit sexualized interactions. Usually there is some boundary probing. and crossing lines of personal touch um. touching someone in a on a shoulder or. somewhere else that may not be. explicitly sexual but is crossing the. line between a teacher and a student. In. many schools now, I'd say most schools. now have rules that teachers are not. supposed to ever communicate with their. students about anything that's not. related to school and should not be. texting on non-school platforms after.

school hours especially. So, that does. cross a line. >> Now, I'll tell you, this is a very. demanding life and I'm constantly. running around. I'm busy. I need fuel to. keep my energy up throughout the day. But, I'll tell you, a lot of supplements. and bars meant for onthe-go snacking, they can be a mess. They have misleading. labels. They have really complicated. ingredients. Well, I'll tell you what, that's why I love what our sponsor Equip. is doing because with clean nutrition in. mind. They're all about real food first. Transparent sourcing, third party. testing. There's no toxins or fillers.

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to be a household staple for you and. your family. Now, Equip is giving my. audience an incredible offer right now. You can hit the link right here or go. directly to equipfoods.comside. Use my promo code sidebar to get 20% off. of your first order or 35% off of your. first subscription. So, thank you to. Equip for making the best bar on the. market and partnering with us. Are you. surprised by the digital evidence in a. case like this? >> You know, more and more these cases are. built on digital evidence. And you would. think, why would someone who is doing. something like this have so much.

explicit content and really confessions. about what was going on in online. messages? And I think it shows how. emboldened this teacher felt that it was. not something that she was necessarily. hiding at that point. I see that in so. many cases now. This is just how people. communicate in this day and age. And so. many of these cases, people don't really. have a defense saying they didn't do it. because the online messages show it all. >> Can you just elaborate a little bit. further about what responsibility. schools have under federal law and.

regulations to detect and prevent abuse? Because how often do schools miss. opportunities to intervene? Are there. weaknesses in the system? Is hindsight. just 2020 and there was really nothing. that could be discovered beforehand? I. mean, you tell me. >> Sure. Well, for first you should do a. thorough background check before. anyone's hired. But for most of these. cases, the teachers like this teacher. and other teachers, they often don't. have a civil or criminal background. problem and there's nothing that would. be detected. So, what has to be done? There needs to be a culture in a school.

where if people see warning signs, boundary blurring behavior, like we were. talking before, that people can report. it. That people know how to report it. That people are not afraid of. retaliation. Because a lot of people at. schools and other organizations may see. someone touching another person or. interacting in a way that they think. might be inappropriate. They're not. sure, but they're afraid to get someone. in trouble. They're afraid that they'll. be blamed. They don't want to cause a. ruckus. They just want to go about their. jobs. And I think you need a culture. where you say, "Look, if you see anyone. doing something with a student, especially that might be inappropriate,

here's who you can report it to. And if. it's made in good faith, the report, there's not going to be any consequences. for the person reporting it." But in a. lot of places, there's a culture where. no one reports things. It gets worse and. more egregious. And that's where schools. get in trouble when they knew or should. have known that something like this was. happening, but they either turned a. blind eye or they took minor remedial. ways to address it that really didn't. stop the behavior. >> So, I mentioned legal troubles earlier. This is interesting. When she was.

arrested, she posted bail. And to be. very clear, she was released under. strict conditions that completely. forbade her unsupervised contact with. minors. But apparently she violated. those conditions multiple times, emailing another former student shortly. after he turned 18. And that prompted. federal authorities to revoke her bail. and place her in custody. So Dan, first. of all, can you explain how bail. conditions are set in cases involving.

sexual offenses against minors? What. factors lead to no contact with minors? And my gosh, you know, a violation of. that, >> right? It is shocking when someone is. caught doing something or charged with. doing something like this and then they. continue to violate the clear. instructions. You would think just out. of their own self-preservation they. would follow the rules of the court. But. it's standard when someone's charged. with a serious sex crime as this teacher. was. That part of the conditions if they. are released is that they can't have any.

contact with the victim or anyone else. who's underage. There's often monitoring. of that. Sometimes people have to give. up their access to online portals. So, they can't have a phone or computer. I. don't think that was the case here, but. I've seen that in other cases where they. say, "You just can't be online with. anyone at any time because the person is. perceived to be dangerous." But here, the teacher apparently still connected. with people after that. And it really. shows a brazeness that is shocking. because you would think that just to. avoid their own liability, criminal.

liability, civil liability, they would. say, "Okay, I need to stop what I'm. doing." So, this is clearly something. that this teacher felt a compulsion to. do. and did not stop. >> And now I want to dig into the federal. indictment. Okay. So it paints a picture. of premeditated and compulsive behavior. and it reads in part, quote, Sandy Kazas. Pinez, the defendant knowingly using a. facility and means of interstate and. foreign commerce, persuaded, induced, enticed, and coerced an individual who.

had not attained the age of 18 years to. engage in sexual activity. And the. federal indictment lays out two counts. enticement of a minor in production of. child pornography. And as for enticement. of a minor, the document states, "From. in or about November 2022 through in or. about February 2023, Sandy Karazz's. Pinez abused her position as a teacher. at school 1 by inducing and attempting. to induce minor victim 1 to engage in a. sexual relationship with her." And. further down, it states that she quote. used her personal cell phone to call,

text, and video call minor victim 1's. cell phone to maintain her relationship, arrange sexual encounters, and. repeatedly induce minor victim one to. engage in live stream sexual explicit. conduct while on video calls with Karaz. Pinez. In text messages with minor. victim one, Grazas Pinez referred to her. sexual encounters with minor victim one. and the live depictions of sexually. explicit conduct she induced minor. victim 1 to create as gifts. on the. charge involving child sexual abuse.

material. It reads, "From at least in or. about December 2022 through at least in. or about February 2023, Sandy Kazas. Pinez employed, used, persuaded, induced, enticed, and coerced a minor to. engage in sexually explicit conduct for. the purpose of producing a visual. depiction of such conduct and for the. purpose of transmitting a live visual. depiction of such conduct. And the. defendant knew and had reason to know. that such visual depiction would be. transported and transmitted using any. means and facility of interstate and.

foreign commerce to it that she induced. minor victim one to engage in sexually. explicit activity during live stream. video calls with Kazas Pinez while minor. victim one was in Yoners New York. So. Dan, first of all, why is this so. significant that she was brought up on. federal charges? Because that's not. always the case. Sometimes in these. cases, they're usually just state. charges. But why is this a federal. charge? And why is it significant that. you have a federal case here, >> right? Well, that is very serious for.

this defendant, this teacher, because. the federal charges can stem from being. communication. That's the text video. chatting and where they were doing that. from. So, that's something that falls. under federal jurisdiction. Federal law. often has severe sentences that may be. even more than state sentences. Also, when someone is prosecuted in a state. court and in a federal court, sometimes. there's consecutive prison time, which. means they serve one sentence and then. the other. And usually federal. prosecutors do not bring cases like this.

unless they feel there is extremely. solid evidence to back them up. Otherwise, they leave it to the states. to prosecute. That's my experience as a. sex crimes prosecutor. So, they must be. very confident in a conviction on their. end if they brought charges like this. that are very serious. So it's the using. a facility or means of interstate or. foreign commerce. It's the idea that's a. big component to that as well in dig I. guess digital communication live. streams. >> Right. Right. Exactly. And here as you. said that she allegedly got him to live.

stream sexually explicit content on. video calls. And again this is a special. needs student who's underage. So you. have the underage factor. You have the. fact that she's in a position of power. and influence over him as a public. school teacher and he's a 16-year-old. student. And also that this is ongoing. This isn't a one-time thing. This was a. relationship where she was trying to get. him to engage in more explicit. sexualized conduct both in person and. live streaming. So, this is a really. serious set of facts and that's why it. fell under both federal and state.

jurisdiction. >> Yeah. And by the way, let's just talk. about this. when she was finally. sentenced for her disgusting and. disturbing crimes, and we will get. there. Um, it's very significant. I do. want to talk real quick about why she. would even think she could get away with. doing something like this because the. last time we covered this case, we spoke. with Dr. John Delator and mental health. professional who told us that he.

believed that he saw her stu that she. saw her student as a vulnerable pawn. exploiting mental health or behavioral. challenges to coers him and her status. as a married mother of three he said may. have even emboldened her giving her the. illusion that no one would suspect such. behavior. Dan, there's a part of that. that I think could be real, you know, in. the sense as I say these stories, it's. kind of hard for me to imag grasp with. the reality of what's going on. Do you.

agree with that in your experience? Do. you agree with something like that? >> I do and I did see that interview. I. thought it was a really interesting. interview and insight from the expert. that you that was spoken to. I think. that a lot of people who do this type of. behavior that teachers alleged to have. done, they feel emboldened to get away. with what they're doing. I don't think. people generally engage in this conduct. thinking that they're going to be. caught. Why would they feel emboldened? Well, first of all, they're a teacher. They're in authority. The person who. they're doing it with is underage and in.

a special needs school. So, they may. feel that person is more isolated and. has less of a less recourse to report. it. And often those are the people who. are prayed upon someone who the the. teacher thinks is not going to be. believed is not going to report this if. they you know leave the relationship at. some point. So also often as I said. before usually this type of conduct does. not start with just some explicit. sexualized interaction. Usually this. boundary probing this blurring of lines. and then it leads one thing to another. and escalates and the person feels.

emboldened over that time because like. oh I got away with this maybe I could. get away with this. Maybe I could get. away with this. And it escalates and. escalates from there. >> So the legal system caught up to her. September 19th, US District Judge John. P. Cronin sentenced Sandy Karazz's Pinez. to 25 years in prison followed by 5. years supervised release. US Attorney. Jay Clayton emphasized this betrayal of. trust, saying sexual exploitation by. teachers offends every New Yorker. Sandy.

Karazzus Pinez betrayed her role and. through explicit texts and other means. coerced a 16-year-old into a sexual. relationship. Actions of this type by. anyone, particularly a teacher or other. person of trust, will not be tolerated. Now, Dan, it's our understanding she. plead guilty um and was ultimately. sentenced to 25 years. Uh is this the. appropriate conclusion? I mean, 25 years. pretty significant here. Uh makes a. statement on the federal level. What's. your take? >> Right. So I believe she was facing even.

more time potentially life in prison. So. 25 years is less than that. But you're. talking about a a core part of one's. life. She's 36 years old. So she would. be 61 when she would be released if she. serves that full sentence. And you know. that is the prime ages of someone's. life. So to give that up is a extremely. significant sentence. I do think it is. the correct sentence considering the. harm that was done to this child, the. ongoing nature of it, the fact that it. was an underage student. She was in a.

position of trust. It was a special. needs school where she was working. So, it's an appropriate sentence and it's a. it's a very significant sentence. >> And avoiding trial, pleading guilty, avoiding trial. Obviously, there, like. you said, there could have been an. advantage to the defendant because of. what she could have been facing. But you. don't have to put a jury through this. I. always say, you don't have to put a jury. through it in this kind of case and even. have, you know, the a victim testify or. anything like that. >> Yeah. Exactly. A lot of times both the.

prosecution and sometimes even the. defense feel they don't want to put the. victim through it and also for this. teacher if they feel the teacher and. their defense and her defense team or. defense lawyer feel that they're not. going to get an acquitt that there's so. much evidence that there's all this. online evidence and other evidence. they're going to be convicted. Then why. go through a trial for the defendant. themselves? It just seems like they. might escape that get a slightly lower. sentence if that's the best case. scenario for them. Dan Shore, good.

seeing you. Thanks for taking the time. as always. >> Thanks, Jesse. It's good talking with. you. >> 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 see. you next time. [Music].