(03/06/09 – Initial BadBadTeacher.com Report)
Abigail Anne Holloway, 33, a teacher at Saint Mary’s Academy in Englewood, Colorado has been arrested on allegations of having a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old female student in California.
It is alleged that Holloway had a sexual relationship with the student when she was a teacher at Kings Academy, a Christian prep school in Sunnyvale, California. Sunnyvale police say that the alleged relationship began in 2001 and continued for years.
Investigators say that Holloway ended her employment at King’s Academy in 2003, and that from 2003 to 2005 she worked at several other schools in Santa Clara County, California and that she left California in 2005 and moved to Colorado.
Holloway is expected to have an extradition hearing in Colorado and be transferred to the Santa Clara County Jail next week. Holloway will face “multiple counts of child abuse that are sexual in nature” according to her arrest warrant.
Investigators reported becoming aware of the alleged abuse in December and are still trying to determine if there may have been other children victimized by Holloway, either at King’s Academy or other Santa Clara County schools.
03/09/09 – Case Update
Reportedly a college counselor told investigators in California last fall of the alleged relationship between the then 13-year-old student and Abigail Holloway.
The alleged victim has reportedly provided police with a 2½-inch-thick binder with love letters, cards and poems she alleges were from Holloway.
Additionally, investigators recorded a phone call between the girl and Holloway in which the two talked about their alleged sexual encounters and Holloway followed up with an e-mail the next day.
It is alleged that in that e-mail Holloway wrote, “For the longest time, I felt like maybe I had tricked you into our relationship somehow,” the e-mail states. “It was very real to me, and the best time of my life so far.”
04/15/09 – Arraignment
According to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, Abigail Holloway was arraigned on Tuesday in Santa Clara County Superior Court on seven counts of lewd or lascivious acts on a child age 14 or 15, four counts of oral copulation with a minor and four counts of sexual penetration of a person younger than 18.
Holloway is scheduled to to be back in court to enter a plea on May 12th.
Bail for Holloway was set in the amount of $150,000.
07/29/09 – No Contest Plea
Abigail Holloway has reportedly pleaded no contest to four counts involving sexual contact with a minor.
Holloway pleaded no contest to two counts of lewd or lascivious acts on a child age 14 or 15; one count of oral copulation with a minor and one count of sexual penetration of a person under the age of 18.
As part of the plea deal, prosecutors dropped 15 counts of sexual misconduct with a minor.
Holloway faces up to five years in prison when sentenced on September 1st.
12/11/09 – Sentencing
Abigail Holloway has reportedly been sentenced to two years in state prison for molesting a student.
Prosecutors sought the maximum sentence of five years.
While it may be true that in hindsite the parents regret allowing their daughter to spend time at the teacher’s house, some of the blame must rest with the school policy that allows teachers to be off campus with students without the presence of another adult. (this policy remains in place as of July 2010, despite this molestation indictment).
I am not aware of any public school where the “student handbook” permit teachers to spend alone time with any student off campus, and certainly not on school sponsored events. That Kings did and continues to allow teachers to spend time with students off campus without the presence of another adult certainly contributed to this disaster.
Anyone who is a member of Civil Air Patrol knows that it is CAP policy that Cadet (youth) and Senior (adult) members are NEVER allowed to spend time alone without a second adult there and that male and female cadets are NEVER to be alone in a room with the door closed. If schools adopted most if not all of the policies that Civil Air Patrol has in it Cadet Protection Program (CPP), I would argue that the rate of student-teacher sexual relationships would drop by between 40 and 80 percent.
There are three kinds of people who come on here who really make me sick: those who try to excuse behavior of female sex offenders as not being really that bad, those who try to blame the victims of female sex offenders, and those who deminish the trauma of victims of female sex offenders by making statements like “he/she liked it” and “I wish she had been my teacher.” People like Abigail Holloway serve to show that women are able to be just as evil, just as manipulative, just as destructive, just as heinous in their actions as men. Women want to be equal with men. I say they should be equal. A woman can do just about anything a man can do. And that means for good or for evil. So, if they want equality, they need to take equal responsibility for their actions, and people need to treat them equally for their actions. Every time a woman skates on a charge of sexual molestation/statutory rape, she is hurting the equality of women, not helping. If womankind should be paid the same amount of money for the same amount of work as men womankind needs to receive the same treatment and sentencing as men in the judicial system as men. Women cannot claim they want equality and then use some lame cop-out excuse for their actions if they ever want men to take them seriously. Women have fought so hard and long to get over the stigma of being weaker, more emotional, less capable of making good decisions, and in need of special protection more than men. Every time a woman receives a lesser sentence than a man they are in fact, not in effect, in FACT turning back the clock on the advance of women’s rights.
The student in question was never “dumped” on the teacher. The relationship was initiated by the teacher and continued despite the known consequences. I understand if you are friends with Abby: she needs them to get through this situation. However, don’t assume you know the entire situation before blaming the victim. Abby was in a position of authority and abused that position. Hopefully the victim (and Abby) get help and recover from this.
I have also known Abby for many years (10+ years) and went to Kings while she was teaching there. It was not unusual for students to gather at teacher’s houses for BBQs and get-togethers and Bible Studies. This has nothing to do with a parent “dumping” their child at a teacher’s house and has everything to do with a teacher overstepping their boundary.
I agree with “Lame’s” response (and others).
CS, so you’re trying to place the blame on a late 20s year old woman committing statutory rape on a 13 year old squarely on the girl’s parents for “dumping” her on the teacher. I just love it how people love to try to justify child molesters actions by blaming everyone but the persons responsible. Germany should have had you on their side at the Versailles Peace Conference.
Just to let you know, I have know Abby for many many years.
1) She only worked for the school in question, the rumors that she worked in the school district are not true. She moved from Illinois, to the San Jose area, worked for Kings, until she moved to Colorado.
2) This relationship was wrong, and she knows that, however the girls parents dumped her on Abby, leaving her to spend the night and give her rides to school. The parents we wrong in this too, I do not care how much you trust a teacher, you should never ask her to spend the night with another adult for days at a time.
3) Abby knew she was wrong, and she asked to serve prison time, she has never tried to plea out or anything. Does not change or make better what she did, but this would never happen again.