Sexy Teachers - Carol Lynn Flannigan

The Boynton Beach music teacher accused of having sex with an 11-year-old former student was granted $30,000 bail Thursday and placed under house arrest while she awaits trial.

Carol Lynn Flannigan, 49, was arrested by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Wednesday and charged with capital sexual battery on a child under 12 in connection with the alleged 19- month affair. A new police probe could net more charges. Boca Raton police said Thursday they are reinvestigating allegations that she kissed the same boy romantically in 2002. "'Now, with this new evidence, all parties will be interviewed to see if there is any new evidence in the case,"' said Officer Jeff Kelly, Boca Raton police spokesman.

Flannigan befriended the boy's family and invited him and his two brothers to her house for sleepovers, authorities said. She had sex with the victim at her home, a Lake Worth park and a Lantana airport parking lot, officials said. The alleged affair was revealed when the now 13-year-old's stepmother found text messages on his cellphone.

"'We trusted her like a family member,"' said the boy's father outside the courtroom for Flannigan's first appearance Thursday. "That's why I never thought something like this would happen."
He said he had hoped the judge would side with prosecutors who asked for no bail. But Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Sheree Cunningham allowed Flannigan's release on the conditions she remain under house arrest at her parents' home and have no contact with children or the victim's family, but she is allowed to have supervised visits with her 16-year-old autistic son. She was also barred from using the computer.

Sitting together in one row at the courtroom were Flannigan's supporters: her husband, parents, sister, brother-in-law and several neighbors. They didn't comment, but one woman gasped and began to cry quietly after catching a glimpse of Flannigan walking in a blue jail-issued uniform before the hearing.
Flannigan's lawyer, Kenneth Ronan, told reporters that she will plead not guilty, citing the first investigation conducted by Boca Raton police and the state Department of Children & Families, when allegations that Flannigan and the boy kissed were ruled out as "unfounded."

Inappropriate behavior was brought to the attention of investigators by a therapist of Flannigan's husband, Douglas DePue, who filed for divorce in 2002. "'Back then DCF just had the husband's hunch,"' Kelly said. DCF officials are prohibited by law from commenting on specific cases. But Alan Abramowitz, deputy district administrator for DCF in Palm Beach County, said families have differing standards for appropriate contact and a kiss is not always sexual.

The boy told investigators he did not feel uncomfortable. But Flannigan's arrest report alleges the two already had sex at the time of the first investigation. "'If everyone were to deny it, you really have no evidence to go forward," Abramowitz said. He said cases with female abusers and male victims are among the hardest to investigate because it is nearly impossible to find physical proof that a male victim had sex.

The evidence that led to her arrest this week includes the text messages and a phone call the boy made to Flannigan that was monitored by police. Authorities alleged that in that conversation, she apologized, urged the boy to keep lying about their relationship, offered him $1,000 and said that revealing the truth would ruin her life.

She is on paid leave from her job as a music teacher at Rolling Green Elementary School, where she first met the boy in her music class. Principal Gay Voss sent a generic letter to parents, translated into Spanish and Creole, alerting them that a teacher had been arrested and that the charges involve ''inappropriate behavior'' with a student.

In a barely audible voice, a former Rolling Green Elementary School music teacher on Monday admitted to having sex with a fifth-grader in 2003. Rather than risk life behind bars on a capital sexual battery charge, Carol Lynn Flannigan, 51, pleaded guilty to the lesser crime of lewd and lascivious molestation. She will spend five years in prison followed by 10 years of sex offender probation, meaning she will be a registered sex offender. Flannigan was to give up her teaching license immediately.

Circuit Judge Lucy Chernow Brown granted Flannigan a furlough until March 13, when she is to surrender. Should she be arrested or fail to show up then, Brown warned her that she faces the maximum 15-year sentence. Dressed in a pink jacket and beige skirt, with a house-arrest ankle monitor bulging beneath her pantyhose, Flannigan told the judge she understood what it means to be a registered sex offender.

To be certain, Brown spelled it out for her. "It's an adult that preys upon or sexually exploits a child," Brown told her. "Gender is irrelevant." Seated in the courtroom during the plea conference was the father of the now 15-year-old boy, whom the South Florida Sun-Sentinel is not identifying because of the nature of the crime. The father, who also has admitted to having a sexual relationship with Flannigan, declined comment.

But the father's civil attorney, Dan Bachi, said the family is relieved to have the criminal case behind them. "They are glad Carol Flannigan is going to prison," Bachi said. Flannigan was accused of carrying on a 19-month sexual relationship with the boy, who was a student at the Boynton Beach school. The boy and his siblings often spent the night at Flannigan's Boca Raton home, where much of the sex took place. Flannigan gave the boy and his father money, according to court records. The boy has testified that Flannigan's husband, Douglas DePue, who is divorcing Flannigan, knew about the sexual relationship, though DePue has said he had no idea.

Last summer, the father reached a $1.5 million settlement with DePue's insurance carrier. A civil suit against Flannigan and the Palm Beach County School Board and others is still pending. DePue does not think his wife had a sexual relationship with the boy, but rather that the child and his father successfully extorted DePue and Flannigan. "I'll go to my grave [saying] that I never saw any of that stuff going on and I wasn't born yesterday. I'm in the music business and I've seen a lot of weird stuff."

Flannigan declined to comment. Her attorney, Ken Ronan, said Flannigan agreed to the plea deal because she was facing a potential life sentence and she has an autistic son who needs her. The state agreed to the deal to ensure Flannigan would do prison time, State Attorney's Office spokesman Michael Edmondson said. While the victim was willing to testify at trial, Edmondson said, the case could have been jeopardized when the jury learned of the father's simultaneous sexual relationship with the former teacher.

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