A Bethel native and former high school teacher is accused of sexually exploiting a 16-year-old student, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
Sandy Carazas-Pinez formerly taught high school in Yonkers, New York. While teaching at a K-12 school, the 34-year-old allegedly enticed a teenager to take part in sexual activities with her.
The U.S. attorney's office said Carazas-Pinez told the student to perform sexual acts while on video calls with her and exchanged explicit texts and photos with the student.
She is also accused of meeting the teen outside of school grounds several times for sex. The alleged abuse occurred between November 2022 and February 2023.
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Carazas-Pinez was arrested Wednesday morning. She is being charged with enticing a minor victim to engage in illegal sexual activity and production of child pornography.
If convicted, Carazas-Pinez could face anywhere from 10 years to a life sentence for the first charge and 15 to 30 years for the child pornography charge.
The investigation is still ongoing. The FBI has encouraged anyone with information related to the case to call 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip at tips.fbi.gov.
