A teacher in Brooklyn was ordered to pay a hefty sum of $750,000 in damages after seducing and having sex with a 16-year-old student at least eight times in 2012.
Erin Sayar, 41, had sexual relations with Kevin Eng, then 16, while teaching at James Madison High School, a Brooklyn school that’s called “Horndog High” for its infamous history of sex scandals between teachers and students.
Eng, who is of Asian descent, previously admitted to having oral sex and intercourse with Sayar eight to 12 times, in her office and SUV.
In addition to the sexual encounters, Sayar allegedly plied Eng with marijuana, which she kept inside her filing cabinet.
The affair was brought to light when Eng’s girlfriend saw them flirting and became suspicious. She hacked into her boyfriend’s Facebook account and found him sending Sayar messages such as “I love you so much” and “I always loved you, since last year,” Daily Mail reported.
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Sayar, a mother of one, was apprehended in May 2012 and charged with 50 counts of statutory rape and sex abuse. After a plea deal, she was sentenced to 10 years probation, stripped of her teaching license and registered as a level 1 sex offender.
At the time of her affair, she was married to a man named Jimmy Lathrop, who divorced her after discovering her relationship in 2013.
The recent fine appears to be the consequence of her failure to show up in court and respond to legal letters arising from civil motions filed in the past five years by Bruce Baron, Eng’s lawyer.
Even lawyer Michael Marinaccio, whose firm represented her in the case, lost contact with her.
Finally, a Brooklyn Supreme Court judge got fed up with her failure to respond on August 17, ordering a judgment of $750,000 in damages for Eng.
“This verdict along with the punitive damages awarded by the judge sends a strong message that teachers across New York state should take their position of authority very seriously,” the New York Post quoted Baron as saying.
Baron’s office is now sifting through Sayar’s financial records to find money and assets she may have to recover the damages.
Sayar, who survived a battle against cancer and still lives in Brooklyn, claims not hearing about the judgment until she was reached by the New York Post.
She told the outlet, “I don’t know anything about that. I can’t talk about it because I don’t know.”
