Illinois Middle School Coach Charged With Abusing 14-Year-Old

Excerpted from Aurora Teacher Charged with Sex Abuse, by Kate Hawley, published Oct 16, 2006, in Chicago Tribune:

A first-year science teacher and coach at Cowherd Middle School in Aurora was arrested Friday on charges of sexually abusing a student.

Robert Steck, 37, of the 900 block of Shady Lane in Aurora, was indicted by a Kane County grand jury on 10 counts of criminal sexual abuse, one count of indecent solicitation of a child and four counts of sexual exploitation of a child.

The abuse is alleged to have happened in the school and in Steck’s home between Aug. 1, 2005, and July 30, 2006, when the accuser was in the 7th grade, said Assistant State’s Atty. Justin Fitzsimmons. The boy is now 14…

Kane County State’s Atty. John Barsanti said the boy’s guardian reported the abuse after hearing troubling stories including an allegation that the boy had spent time in a locked classroom with Steck.

“This seemed odd. Red lights went off for her,” Barsanti said.

Steck had taught at Cowherd just one year, said district spokesman Clayton Muhammad. Before joining the district, Steck worked in a non-teaching position at Mooseheart, a residential facility and school for children in need in Batavia, Muhammad said.

Continue reading in Chicago Tribune…

Excerpted from Aurora Coach Charged With Abusing 14-Year-Old, by Mike Puccinelli, published Oct 16, 2006, by CBS Chicago Channel 2:

…The teacher and assistant wrestling coach is accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old student.

…Parents at Cowherd [Middle School] say they never had any indication that a teacher was under suspicion of fondling and exploiting a naked teenage boy.

…If he’s convicted, Steck faces up to 35 years in prison.

Steck encouraged the boy to join the wrestling team. He would then have the student disrobe for weigh-ins and that’s allegedly when much of the abuse occurred.

Continue reading at CBS 2…