Investigators said the abuse is alleged to have occurred at MS/IS 8 in Jamaica, where the defendant teaches and the victim is a student.
"The charges are very disturbing," said Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown. "A teacher is accused of preying on a young student who she is entrusted to teach. A classroom should always be a safe place for a child."
Melissa Weber, 27, is from West Babylon, Long Island. She is accused of engaging in sexual intercourse with the 14-year-old boy in a second-floor classroom on seven separate occasions between April 13, 2009, and May 14, 2009, and during the hours of 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.
According to investigators, Weber told the victim, "Don't tell anyone. I could get arrested and I could lose my teaching license."
Weber, who is employed as a social studies/homeroom teacher at MS/IS 8 was held pending arraignment in Queens Criminal Court on seven counts of second-degree rape, fourteen counts of third-degree sexual abuse and one count of endangering the welfare of a child. If convicted, she faces up to seven years in prison.
Brown said the case came to light on Wednesday when the boy's mother, who is a member of the PTA, was allegedly told by sources at the school that a teacher was engaging in an inappropriate relationship with her son.
The mother obtained the teacher's telephone number and then checked her son's cell phone and allegedly found hundreds of contacts between the teacher and her son over the last two months. The boy's parents then called police.
According to investigators, one of the last texts from the teacher stated, "Erase your phone."
