Teacher charged for urging student to keep quiet about alleged assault

By GAZETTE STAFF Tuesday, May 25, 2010

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KENOSHA — A Kenosha middle school teacher, who police say urged a student to keep quiet about an alleged sexual assault, has been charged with two misdemeanors.

Rebecca H. Prochniak, 32, a French and drama teacher at McKinley Middle School, made her initial court appearance Tuesday where she was charged with intimidation of a victim and failure to report child abuse or neglect.

Earlier Tuesday, police arrested another teacher from the school who they accuse of assaulting the 16-year-old girl.

Sylvanus Tyler, 40, was arrested at his parents' house in Matteson, Ill., after police received information that he had fled to Illinois.

A criminal complaint says Tyler initially met the girl when she was an eighth-grader at McKinley Middle School.

Police say the student, now in high school, had gone to Tyler's Kenosha home May 15 for a voice lesson.

Tyler has been on sabbatical from his teaching position at McKinley. Police say that during the lesson, Tyler kissed and molested her, according to a news release from the Kenosha police department.

Tyler is in the custody of the Matteson Police Department where he will be interviewed by Kenosha detectives.

More at www.kenoshanews.com.

davvic
May 27, 2010 at 7:39 a.m.
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I find her behavior more horrifying than his. You could write him off as sick SOB but what would possess her to protect somebody like that? Kids are told all their lives that if somebody touches them they should tell an adult they can trust such as a teacher, policeman, etc. That poor girl had to have been made to feel like she was causing trouble for him!

RetiredAirForce
May 26, 2010 at 9:58 a.m.
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2 deadbeats teaching kids...nice

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