Lawyer Turned Teacher Has Read Too Much Penthouse

The "naughty schoolgirl" is a popular sexual fantasy, but PEOPLE it's got to be consensual. Otherwise it is a crime.

I hope you’re ready for one of the more stomach-churning incidents we’ve heard. Thomas R. McCarthy, Jr. a lawyer in upstate New York, also taught social studies to high schoolers. While that seems benign enough, perhaps even altruistic, it seems McCarthy abused his position. Last week he was found guilty of misdemeanor forcible touching for using a student to act out his sexual fantasies, stemming from an incident in 2013. As reported by Syracuse.com:

The victim said she felt “forcefully sexually violated” in 2013 when McCarthy ordered her to bend over his desk, spread her legs, raise her shirt and count the number of times he struck her. “He told me if I didn’t count, the spanks didn’t count,” the victim later told police.

At one point, he told her to say “harder.” She was 17 years old at the time.

Ugh. Just ugh. And it gets worse since the victim, prior to the incident, had considered McCarthy a mentor:

The victim thought of McCarthy as a mentor after having him as a high school social studies teacher, prosecutor Melanie Carden said in court today. The victim had always wanted to be a lawyer and he offered her a job in his office.

It was at her job at McCarthy’s law office where the incident took place. During the trial McCarthy claimed that the encounter was consensual, but the victim’s account paints a very different picture:

“He was three times my size and age,” she said. “I was crying and counting out loud.”

I know that the “naughty schoolgirl” is a popular sexual fantasy, but PEOPLE it’s got to be consensual. Otherwise it is a crime.

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During sentencing, Judge Douglas DeMarche found the defendant remorseless as McCarthy continued to blame his former student, saying she wasn’t a “real victim.” McCarthy was sentenced to 60 days in jail and 6 years probation; Judge DeMarche indicated he split the sentence between jail time and probation in order to keep McCarthy under supervision longer (if he’d been sentenced to the maximum jail time for the offense, one year, there would not have been a probationary period). He also faces disciplinary charges from the state bar.

Jailed ex-Liverpool teacher and lawyer: Student wanted to be spanked 54 times [Syracuse.com]

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