Note to readers: Sauk Valley Newspapers strives to protect the identity of sexual assault victims. Although the teen in this story has testified in open court, the newspaper will not identify him by name.
MORRISON – A Whiteside County judge on Friday rejected a former school aide’s claim that she never touched a 16-year-old male student and that she sent him inappropriate text messages only to teach him a lesson.
Luisa Morell-Engelkes, 43, of Morrison was found guilty Friday of aggravated criminal sexual assault.
Judge John Hauptman delivered the verdict at the end of the 2-day trial of the former aide at Sterling Christian School. He also ordered Morell-Engelkes to undergo a psycho-sexual evaluation.
She faces up to 7 years in prison, and will be sentenced Dec. 2.
Morell-Engelkes testified Friday that she felt “threatened” by receiving an inappropriate text from a then 16-year-old boy as they drove in her car in October 2008.
Rather than report the incident to the school’s principal, Morell-Engelkes said she decided to teach him a lesson and turn the tables on him.
“I was tired of watching him victimize people,” she testified. “I took on the role of predator.”
Over the course of two days, she sent him multiple text messages to “feign interest” in the teen, which she realized was wrong, she testified.
She denied ever touching or groping him, which the teen, now 18, testified to on Thursday.
Morell-Engelkes declined to comment on the verdict. Her attorney, John Nelson of Rockford, said the judge gave his client a fair trial and that they will consider an appeal.
The teen and Morrel-Engelkes both testified they had been at Centennial Park in Rock Falls on Oct. 7. 2008, for a soccer game. The field was muddy, and the two slid around in the mud, according to testimony.
Morell-Engelkes lost her phone during the sliding, she testified Friday. Later that night, she called several students who had been at the field that day to find out whether they had seen her phone.
The last call she made was to the teen’s then 15-year-old sister. She testified that the girl asked her mother for permission for the teen and his younger brother to go back out to the field to help her find it.
Morell-Engelkes testified that after finding the phone, she took the boys to Walmart to pick up a school supply for her son, then took the boys to Appleby’s for dessert.
On Thursday, the teen testified that Morell-Engelkes sat close to him in the booth at the restaurant, took his hand and placed it on her crotch. He quickly moved his hand away, he testified.
He also testified that during the ride to the field and restaurant, she had whispered in his ear and touched his leg.
Morell-Engelkes testified that while driving the boys home, the teen sent her the inappropriate text message.
The teen testified he never sent her any sexually explicit text messages.
Before dropping him off at home, she told him that he “didn’t have to be this person” and said she was going to tell the principal the next day.
Instead, she began text messaging him to “teach him a lesson.” Two days later, she apologized to the teen for her actions.
In his closing argument, Whiteside County Assistant State’s Attorney Jim Heuerman pointed to the text messages sent by Morell-Engelkes that night and the following day that corroborated the boy’s version of the incident.
Hauptman agreed and said there was no evidence the teen had sent any messages to Morell-Engelkes and that the messages did not suggest she was trying to “turn the tables” on the teen, rather, that she “wanted to have contact with him.”