Ex-stepinac Teacher Pleads Guilty to Raping Student, 14
By Erik Shilling
A former religion teacher at Archbishop Stepinac High School has pleaded guilty to the second-degree rape of a 14-year-old student in June. Amanda Iles' admission came after she reached a plea agreement with prosecutors that will see her spend up to six months in the Westchester County jail, in addition to nearly 10 years of probation. Iles, 28, will also have to register as a sex offender. She will be sentenced May 27 after pleading guilty to the felony on Tuesday in Westchester County Court in White Plains. Iles surrendered to police in November after she was accused of sexual encounters with the boy on several occasions over four days at her 118 Grand Blvd. home in Eastchester, just days after the end of the school year. The rape came to light after the parents of the boy, who lives in Yonkers, learned of the encounters and contacted police, who later uncovered videos and photos of the sex. Iles resigned from her position at the school just days before the encounters began. Clinton Calhoun, a lawyer for Iles, did not return a request for comment, and Iles did not return a message left on her cellphone. School officials, who declined to comment, said at the time of Iles' arrest that they were cooperating with the investigation. The White Plains school has operated independently from the Archdiocese of New York since 2010. Iles holds a master's degree and was born and raised in Westchester County, her attorney has said, though she relocated to California after her arrest. Iles' sex-offender classification will be determined after her sentencing at a separate hearing. If she is classified as a Level 2 or Level 3 sex offender, meaning that she is of moderate or high risk of offending again, she will be listed in the state's Sex Offender Registry. Iles' case was part of a number of recent cases in the area involving women having sexual relations with boys. In 2010, Beth Modica, a former Rockland County prosecutor who had relations with two underage boys, was released from state prison after spending 21 months behind bars, while Marisa Anton, a former New Rochelle school librarian, was sentenced to three years' probation last year after pleading guilty to trying to seduce a 16-year-old student. Stephanie Gross, a Lakeland High School teacher from Mohegan Lake, was accused of having sexual relations with a 16-year-old boy in May 2007. She pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, a violation, and agreed to pay a $300 fine and serve one year of probation.
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