Sex accuser testifies she left school after teacher ID'd her
The witness, now a 19-year-old college student, testified Thursday that she hadn't told fellow students about her relationship with Plum High School teacher Joseph Ruggieri before the teacher on trial, Drew Zoldak, pointed her out in class.
Ruggieri pleaded guilty this year and was sentenced to two to five years in prison for institutional sexual assault, a crime that makes it illegal for teachers to have sex with students, regardless of their ages.
The district attorney's office has charged two other male Plum teachers with having sex with female students.
[...] the district attorney's office, which also convened a grand jury investigation to determine whether teachers and administrators properly vetted complaints of teacher-student sex, contends his comments were intended to dissuade the witness from testifying against Ruggieri, the teacher's union vice president.