Ex-catholic Teacher Pleads Guilty to Sex with Student in Macomb

By Christina Hall
Detroit Free Press
May 21, 2015

http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/macomb/2015/05/20/ronk-teacher-sex-student-plea/27643127/

Kathryn Ronk

A former Spanish teacher at Bishop Foley Catholic High School in Madison Heights pleaded guilty today to lesser charges in Macomb County, where she is accused of having a sexual relationship with a male student.

Kathryn Ronk, 30, of Birmingham is to be sentenced July 1 in Macomb County Circuit Court on two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

The guilty pleas came on the day her case was set for trial. She initially rejected the plea agreement in March. After today's hearing, her attorney, James Thomas, said "we have no comment."

Ronk appeared in court in a blue and pink prison jumpsuit. She answered yes or no to questions posed by Judge Mary Chrzanowski. She looked into the audience when the lawyers talked with the judge.

In March, she was sentenced to six to 15 years in prison on similar charges in Oakland County. She originally was charged with five counts of criminal sexual conduct, including rape, in Oakland County, but pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

She was also charged in Macomb County because some of the sexual contact took place in the then 15-year-old boy's Macomb Township home and in a parked car in Sterling Heights.

She was facing three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count each of child sexually abusive activity and selling or furnishing alcohol to a minor in Macomb County.

The Macomb County charges also accused her of enticing the student to exchange sexually explicit images and providing the victim with alcohol, the Prosecutor's Office previously said.

The acts in Oakland County occurred in her classroom at the school, authorities had said. She initiated the contact with the student in December 2013 with the assaults starting in January 2014.

According to questioning during today's proceeding, the Sterling Heights incident occurred in January 2014 and the Macomb Township assault occurred in April 2014.

Contact Christina Hall: chall99@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @challreporter