Former Carpentersville teacher sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting 2 boys

ST. CHARLES TOWNSHIP – A former employee of Algonquin-based Community School District 300 who lives in Geneva was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting two minors she knew.

After a two-hour hearing, Kane County Judge D.J. Tegeler sentenced Lindsay P. Anderson, 31, of the 900 block of Foxwood Drive, Geneva, to six years in prison for a charge of aggravated sexual abuse and four years on a charge of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, both felonies. The sentences are to be served consecutively because there were two victims.

Anderson is to have two years of mandatory monitoring upon release and must register as a sex offender for the rest of her life, Tegeler said. She had faced a sentence of up to 22 years.

“Children have to be able to go to school and be safe,” Tegeler said. “Parents, whether they put their children on a bus or drop them off, have to know they are safe.”

Anderson pleaded guilty in
September.

The abuse took place between July 2013 and May 2015. Anderson had been a teacher at Carpentersville Middle School and a coach at Dundee-Crown High School. She was not the students’ teacher when the abuse occurred, but Tegeler said having been their teacher gave her access to them.

Former Carpentersville police officer Tim Bosshart, who is an investigator for the Kane County Child Advocacy Center, testified that Anderson had oral sex with a 14-year-old boy and intercourse in the back seat of her car with another 14-year old boy while she was a teacher at Carpentersville Middle School.

She also provided marijuana to the boys, Bosshart said.

The boys knew her from school, and one of them had been her student. She also tutored him in math.

“On one occasion, Miss Anderson had picked him up at the Dairy Queen near his house and drove him to Raceway Woods in Carpentersville and had sex with him in the back seat of her vehicle,” Bosshart testified. “She sent him pictures of her naked breast and her naked vagina.”

The mother of one of the boys testified that her son’s life was pretty much destroyed by what happened to him.

Although media reports about Anderson’s arrest did not state the victims’ names, his name got around Dundee-Crown, his mother testified.

“My son was stripped of his childhood,” the victim’s mother said. “He dropped out of high school because of being ridiculed by others. He did not go to his junior/senior prom. He never graduated. He, even today, has commitment issues. Trusting authority figures is an issue for him.”

Dr. Syed I. Ali, a psychiatrist, testified that Anderson had been suffering from several mental illnesses at the time of the crimes.

Anderson had been treated for mental illness since she was 13. She was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of being raped; major depression, despite actually having bipolar disorder; dissociative identity disorder and borderline personality disorder. She also has a tumor on her pituitary gland, for which she receives hormone therapy.

Because of ongoing therapy since her arrest and arriving at a proper cocktail of medications, Ali said Anderson suffers from an inability to curb impulsive behavior.

Anderson’s father, Robert Anderson, testified that the family searched for a reason for their daughter’s behavior and in the months she has been out on bail, they finally have a reason.

Speaking for herself, a tearful Lindsay Anderson said the person she is now is not the person she was.

“I am so sorry to everyone,” Lindsay Anderson said.

Tegeler said he considered Lindsay Anderson’s mental illness, as well as her guilty plea to forgo a trial, in handing down her sentence.

“You ruin everything … when you abuse a child,” Tegeler said.

According to state law, Lindsay Anderson must serve at least 85% of the sentence for the criminal sexual assault charge, which is a Class 1 felony. She will receive day-for-day credit for the aggravated criminal sexual abuse charge, a Class 2 felony, Tegeler said.

Assistant Kane County State’s Attorney Lori Schmidt had recommended a 15-year sentence – 10 years for the charge of aggravated sexual abuse and five years on the charge of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

Lindsay Anderson also will receive credit for two days she was in the Kane County Jail. She had been free on a $10,000 bond.