Dance teacher, 27, arrested 'for having sex in a car with a 16-year-old student'

(But why ARE so many American female teachers sleeping with their students?)

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Updated: 07:25 EST, 7 January 2011

A PE teacher has been arrested for allegedly having sex with one of her own teenage students.

Police believe the relationship with the 16-year-old boy may have gone on for more than a month.

Ashley Blumenshine, 27, was arrested behind a department store in Plainfield, Illinois, after police caught her in a car with the teen.

Police believe that they had had sex shortly before the officers arrived.

The case is just the latest scandal in what appears to be an epidemic of female U.S. teachers becoming sexually involved with their students.

Teacher Ashley Blumenshine, 27, was discovered in a car with a 16-year-old student, with whom she has allegedly been having an affair

The high school teacher is being held in custody charged with having sex with the student. Her attorney said she is innocent.

She taught dance and physical education at Plainfield North High School for four years and is known for her popularity. The boy is a junior at the school.

Plainfield North High School graduate Michael Deland said: 'I remember she's a really nice lady.' 

Around 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, a Plainfield police officer arrested Blumenshine after allegedly catching her in a car with a student outside the Kohl's department store.

'The person in the back was partially unclothed,' said Plainfield Police Chief William Doster of the student.

The pair were found in a car at the parking lot of this Illinois Kohl's store

Blumenshine told police she knew the teen was a student at Plainfield North High School, where she has been a dance and gym teacher for four years

Police noticed two vehicles in the car park were sitting much farther out from the store than other vehicles.

One was unoccupied while Blumenshine was in the driver's seat of the other vehicle with the teen in the back.

Assistant Will County State's Attorney Mary Fillipitch said both occupants admitted they had just engaged in consensual sexual intercourse.

A condom was taken as evidence from the vehicle.

The following day, the Will County State's Attorney's office charged Blumenshine with aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

'They made certain statements to the officer that led them to believe that that's what went on,' Chief Doster said.

He said the affair appears to have been going on for a month or so.

He added: 'Sad for the teacher, sad for the student, sad for the school, sad for the community.

'Some of the students are upset about the whole thing. It does get to be a little traumatic for the students.' 

The aggravated criminal sexual abuse charge is a felony punishable by three to seven years in prison.

Blumenshine is not married and, her attorney says, has no criminal history. 

JENNIFER RIOJAS, 27,  a science teacher in Fort Worth, Texas, was pregnant when arrested for sexual assault in November after allegedly having sex with a 16-year-old student. The pupil told police they met in motels and even had sex when he was in a hospital bed recovering from a football injury

Mother-of-two GINA WATRING, 40, was jailed for five years after admitting having sex with a 10-year-old boy. Watring from North Carolina taught dance and drama at the same primary school the youngster went to. When the boy was told he was banned from seeing his 'lover' he became distraught and his parents considered having him committed to a mental hospital

Married MARCIE ROUSSEAU, 34, had sex with a 16-year-old student at least 100 times. Last month the Michigan teacher was sent to prison to serve a minimum of four years having pleaded guilty to all the charges. But her defence lawyer said of the student: 'He took part in this also ... He courted her, bought her lunch, brought her flowers.' 

AMY BECK. The 33-year-old English and social science teacher is accused of having sex and oral sex with a 14-year-old student at the California school where she worked. The relationship is believed to have lasted six months. She is charged with four counts of unlawful sex with a person under 16 and one count of oral copulation. If convicted, the married mother of three could face seven years in prison.

LINDSAY DUNAJ, a high school chemistry teacher in New York, was caught kissing one of her students during a cruise around Manhattan to celebrate their graduation. Images of the embrace were broadcast by CCTV on to a giant TV screen to be seen by the other pupils and teachers. Dunaj, 25, is also said to have had an affair with another pupil, aged 18. Their e-mail conversations were found by other pupils and passed on to the school authorities

MEGAN BAUMANN, 28, is serving three years in prison after pleading guilty to various sex charges involving three male students.
The social sciences teacher had sex with one and sent him naked pictures of herself by text. The former Tennessee teacher sent texts of her breasts and pubic region to another while she fondled the third while he was clothed. She must also report as a sex offender for the rest of her life.

MELINDA DENNEHY, 41, of New Hampshire admitted e-mailing nude images of herself to a 15-year-old pupil. The high school teacher has resigned and was given a one year prison sentence suspended for two years. The student who was sent the images forwarded them to two friends and told officers she sent him texts offered to have sex and had kissed him twice in a classroom.

Teacher LISA LAVOIE, 26, pleaded guilty to charges of statutory rape with a 15-year-old student. She faces sentencing later this month. Lavoie and the youngster fled to Massachusetts last year and were found by officers in a motel in West Virginia. He has asked the court to be lenient with her and referred to her as 'an amazing person'.

NICHOLE CHAPMAN, 28, is facing charges of having sex with a 19-year-old special needs student in North Carolina. Bizarrely the teenager's mother approves of the relationship and student himself and told local TV: 'I ain't no victim. If it is love, man, it's love. Nobody can stop this.' However, authorities disagree and have charged the teacher with two counts of 'taking indecent liberties' and two counts of committing a sexual offence.

Former California marching band teacher CARLIE ROSE ATTEBURY, 31, denies having sex with a 15-year-old student but admits having sex with two former students when they were 18. Attebury said that she hugged the 15-year-old boy as she did any other 'band kid,' but it was never sexual. But prosecutors have said the pair would at times openly hold hands, kiss and present themselves as a couple. The case continues.