A former Indian American principal of a Montessori School, accused of having sex with two young male students, was given a 14-year prison term.
NEW YORK: A former Indian American principal of an exclusive private Manhattan Montessori School, accused of having sex with two young male students, was given a 14-year prison term on Thursday.
Lina Sinha, 40, was accused of seducing two of her students - the first in June 1996 when he was 13 and the second in January 2001 when he was 12 and a seventh grader. The former is now a 24-year-old police officer.
"Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds," the judge in Manhattan said, quoting Shakespeare, before delivering the judgment.
Prosecutor Florence Chapin argued that Sinha was an arrogant, ivy-league educated woman who used her sophistication, education and position as a teacher to manipulate the lives of two young boys, violating their sexual innocence and abusing their trust and that of society, the New York Times reported.
The key witnesses against Sinha were the two students. One of them told investigators that he had sex with Sinha at least six times.
Sinha has been a teacher for 16 years at the Montessori International School of New York, which was established by her parents in 1969.
Gerald Shargel, Sinha's lawyer, countered the prosecutor's argument by saying that the prosecutor wanted to punish Sinha more rather than equally because of her exemplary life.
"I am stunned, and I am not easily stunned, judge, by the fact that the prosecutor should suggest this is the case for maximum imprisonment," Shargel told the courtroom.
"It sounds to me that she is asking for some kind of additional punishment because Sinha comes from a privileged background," Shargel added.
During the course of the investigations, prosecutors said Sinha tried to bribe one of the youths to lie to investigators by buying him sneakers and a pre-paid telephone and by giving him $400 cash.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}