Des Moines Register
January 14, 2009
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090114/NEWS/901140363/1001/NEWS
A teacher at Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines faces possible prison time for an alleged sexual relationship with an 18-year-old male student.
Erin Marie Rohwer, 27, was arrested Monday at her Des Moines home and charged with sexual exploitation by a school employee.
Sexual contact between any school employee and student, regardless of age, is against the law in Iowa. A one-time encounter is an aggravated misdemeanor, while a pattern of sexual contact is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Rohwer faces the felony charge.
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| Jerry Deegan, president of Dowling Catholic High School, addresses the media about the arrest of Dowling teacher Erin Rohwer. He said that several teachers and students were upset about the arrest. “We feel this is much like a grief process,” Deegan said. Photo by Justin Hayworth |
Dowling's president, Jerry Deegan, said a member of the "Dowling community" called him Friday to report "a possible inappropriate relationship." He declined to say whether the tip came from a student, parent or teacher. In a letter to parents, Deegan said he believed that the alleged relationship took place away from school.
Rohwer, hired in 2003, is the head of Dowling's English department. She was placed on leave, and Deegan said her future with the school will be determined later.
"I think she is a very good teacher," Deegan said. "I think she has, in the classroom, done a very good job."
Rohwer, who is married, is the daughter-in-law of Dowling's choral director, Karl Rohwer. She could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
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| Erin Marie Rohwer |
Polk County Attorney John Sarcone said exploitation cases are not unusual in Iowa. His office has prosecuted teachers, ministers, counselors and a psychiatrist in recent years, he said. From 1998 to 2008, the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners revoked the licenses of 31 teachers for inappropriate relationships with students.
In February, a former teacher's aide at Iowa City West High School, Colleen Katharine Solberg, was arrested for allegedly having sex with a 17-year-old former student. Solberg admitted to police that she had "crossed a line," but the charges were dropped because prosecutors were unable to locate the teen.
Experts say prosecutions of women in sexual abuse cases have become more common nationwide in the past decade.
Many believe sex scandals that involved Catholic priests put more focus on authority figures. Others say the trend reflects the erosion of a double standard applied to men and women, brought on by the growth of female prosecutors and police officers.
Some cases have made national headlines, such as the soap-opera saga of teacher Mary Kay Letourneau, who had an affair with a young student, gave birth to two of his children, and later married him after she served prison time in Washington state a decade ago for statutory rape.
Appeals judges in Washington on Tuesday ruled that state law only forbids sexual contact between school employees and students who are 17 and younger. The teacher at the center of that case, Matthew Hirschfelder, was 33 years old in 2006 at the time of his alleged relationship with an 18-year-old student.
Deegan met with teachers and employees at Dowling on Tuesday morning to tell them about Rohwer's arrest, and then held a meeting to inform students.
"There were teachers that were crying, and students that were upset," Deegan said. "We feel this is much like a grief process. I think it's much like a death."
In a message over the school's intercom, the Rev. Chris Fontanini, Dowling's chaplain, encouraged students to attend a special Tuesday night Mass to pray for comfort and healing.
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