Worcester County Prosecutors say they have strong forensic evidence including pictures and texts in their case charging a female sex ed teacher in Fitchburg with raping a 14-year-old male student on multiple occasions.
Rachelle Gendron, 27, was visibly shaken as she was arraigned on five counts of rape aggravated by age difference and a charge of enticement of a child under 16 years.
In court, the prosecutors told the judge they have text messages and pictures of Gendron exposing herself on the victim’s and her cell phones, including photos showing Gendron “in various states of undress” with her breast exposed.
According to prosecutors, the incidents happened within the past two years, while Gendron had been a teacher at North Central Charter Essential School. She was 25 and 26 years old.
There was no answer at her family’s home in Fitchburg, where her attorney says she has lived with her parents since graduating with honors from Wheaton College in 2004. Gendron’s attorney Andrea Levy issued a statement denying the charges.
“My client Rachelle Gendron pleaded not guilty to the indictments. An indictment is merely an allegation and it’s the Commonwealth’s obligation to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt as to each and every element as to the offenses to which she is charged,” the statement said. “She maintains her innocence and that’s why she entered the pleas of not guilty.”
WBZ-TV originally learned of the allegations back in May.
At the time, Fitchburg police Sgt. Glenn Fossa also confirmed an investigation at the time but declined to comment on specifics, and North Central Charter Essential School executive director Stephanie Davolos would only say that Gendron no longer worked at the school.
“We cannot comment on personnel matters. We can confirm that teacher is no longer employed at the school,” Davolos had said in a statement. After Gendron’s arraignment on Friday, the school issued a follow-up statement.
“The North Central Charter Essential School’s highest priority is the safety and well-being of our students and we are both shocked and concerned by the allegations against the former employee in question,” the statement read.
“Upon first learning of those allegations, we took prompt and appropriate action consistent with the best interests of our students, which included swiftly terminating the individual and fully cooperating with law enforcement authorities investigating this matter. Until this matter is resolved, however, we cannot offer further comment.”
Aggravated rape charges carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison in Massachusetts.
Most people who stumble upon ancient mummies run for the hills and call the police, but one Chinese farmed saw an opportunity for treasure.
Farmer Miao Piang is being held on grave robbery charges after digging up two ancient mummified corpses to make way for a new barn. Days later, villagers in Jiazhuang, Shandong province, discovered the mutilated remains floating in the local pond with their broken caskets.
‘It was like something from a horror film. It was like they were coming back to haunt their tormentor,’ said one. Mr Miao admitted to dumping the bodies in the water after digging up an ancient burial site to make way for a new building.
‘He also thought that being ancient, the tombs might contain some treasure,’ said a police spokesman.
‘Jewellery found on the bodies was split between Mr Miao and his friends, who had helped him,’ they added.
Mr Miao is facing ten years in jail for grave robbery if he is convicted. Chinese burial traditions see many cemeteries or tombs located on hillsides. A high resting place is seen as a good omen.
One of the reasons for China's tough laws on the desecration of graves and tombs derives from the closing of the casket.
At the funeral, the coffin is nailed shut with mourners turned away from the casket as it is thought to be a bad omen to watch.
After this 'holy paper' is pasted onto the coffin to protect it from holy spirits, which would be broken if it was ever opened.
A customer at a hotel was fined $500 (£307) after he swallowed a human toe at the bar.
The severed body part had been dropped into a shot of whisky as part of a tradition in Dawson City, Canada.
The Yukon ritual involves someone drinking the Sourtoe Cocktail and having the toe touch their lips, without swallowing it.
If you accidentally ingest it, which has happened on several occasions, you face a penalty like the man who drank at the Downtown Hotel.
The idea of sampling the toe beverage has made a few online users queasy.
Rick tweeted: ‘Ick! To pay a $500 fine AND swallow a crusty old toe? Thanks but no thanks!’
Matthew Campbell was more worried about how they were going to find a replacement, adding: ‘Who wants to donate a replacement?’
And if you were wondering where the toes came from they are reportedly donated by living donors that have lost them to an ailment or in an accident.
Mini-brains grown in a lab could lead to new treatments for conditions including schizophrenia and autism.
The 4mm-wide structures, made using human stem cells, are incapable of thought and no use for transplants. But because they share the design of functioning brains, they may be useful for research and testing of drugs.
‘If you think about the brain as a car, then what we have created is a car which has its engine on the roof and the gear box in the trunk,’ said Professor Juergen Knoblich.
‘You can study the car parts but you can’t drive it.’
The breakthrough may overcome the limitations of researching human diseases by testing on animals, whose brains are less complex.
In one experiment, the researchers grew a mini-brain using cells taken from a patient with microcephaly. They found its growth was stunted – mimicking the effects of the disease. There was a mixed reaction to the research, carried out by a British and Austrian team led by Prof Knoblich, of the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology in Vienna.
Dr Zameel Cader, from Oxford University and the John Radcliffe Hospital, said it was ‘fascinating and exciting’.
And neuroscientist Professor Paul Matthews, from Imperial College London, said the study offered the promise of a ‘major new tool’ for understanding major developmental disorders.
But Dr Dean Burnett, lecturer in psychiatry at the University of Cardiff, was more cautious about the research published in journal Nature.
‘Saying you can replicate the workings of the brain with tissue in a dish is like inventing the abacus and saying you can use it to run the latest version of Microsoft Windows,’ he said.
‘There is a connection there, but we’re a long way from that sort of application yet.’
A man with 5-foot-long dreadlocks has had them cut off for charity, after not having a haircut for 20 years.
Gareth Robinson first got dreadlocks at the age of 16, and they eventually grew to weigh 3lbs. His hair was so long that the 35-year-old would often sit on his locks by mistake.
Robinson, from Bournemouth, raised £500 for Cancer Research in sponsorship after having them removed.
The medical screener for the air ambulance said: "'My hair has been this way since I was 16 so I am still getting used to it. It all started because I was at that age and I couldn't find any other hairstyle that seemed to suit me.
"In more recent years it was easier to manage, although washing it could be a two-person affair," he continued. "My partner Jana had to hold it out of the way while I washed my scalp, otherwise they could take three days to dry."
Robinson added that he wanted to raise money for a cancer charity because his mother Lin had battled and overcome the disease.
He said: "She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003 and ovarian cancer in 2006 but received the all-clear two years ago."
