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Student accused of lewd behavior



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By Gordon Dritschilo Staff Writer - Published: June 9, 2009

An Otter Valley student is charged with exposing himself in class.

Joseph E. Cianci, 17, of Smalley Road in Brandon, pleaded innocent Monday in Rutland District Court to a single felony charge of lewd and lascivious conduct. The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in jail and a $300 fine.

The charge stems from an incident April 9, in which two classmates claimed they saw Cianci touching himself at different times between 1 and 2 p.m., according to police.

The first student, a 17-year-old girl, said a friend was sitting between her and Cianci and she saw him put his hand inside his shirt and down his lap, according to affidavits, and his hands were "doing an upward stroking motion."

The girl told police she and her friend laughed and quietly told others in the class what Cianci was doing.

The second student, a 17-year-old boy, told police he was sitting across from Cianci when the girl told him Cianci had exposed himself. He said he saw Cianci sitting cross-legged in his chair, according to affidavits and watched him pull his pants below his knees, exposing and touching himself.

The boy said he asked Cianci what he was doing, according to police, and Cianci pulled up his pants and denied doing anything.

Police said the boy reported the incident to an associate principal several days later, and the school contacted the Brandon Police Department.

Police said they spoke with Cianci and his parents, and Cianci's father said his son would not give a statement, but they would not fight the charges and Cianci would do whatever the court ordered.

Cianci was freed Monday on the condition he have no contact with the two witnesses and that he report to the Brandon Police Department within 48 hours to be photographed and fingerprinted.

A call to Otter Valley Principal Dana Cole-Levesque was not immediately returned Monday.

gordon.dritschilo@rutlandherald.com








READER COMMENTS


Editors blog has very good points of exactly why this was put in the paper. PERFECT way to try to help the upset readers understand why this needed to be in the paper.TY
-- Posted by Maureen Gould on Thu, Jun 11, 2009, 8:13 pm EST

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Mark, you are right- but I still wonder if it actually happened. First reaction would be (should be) to tell the person in charge....
-- Posted by Colleen Wright on Thu, Jun 11, 2009, 1:36 pm EST

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Why call the police. The kid obviously has issues and should have been suspended and sent to the psychologist.
-- Posted by Mark Wilson on Thu, Jun 11, 2009, 12:36 pm EST

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Thanks to Randal for the editorial link. But Randal's defense against my remark that "sex sells" was unconvincing to me. Curiously, he used the hardcopy layout as a defense ("bottom of b1"), even though the story was quite prominent in the online edition. In this modern age, where more and more readers are switching to online readership, this argument is unconvincing to me. Further, an ongoing read of the Herald reveals, in my opinion, a consistent splashing of sex-crime news, from big to small, across the online edition's home page. (I only read the online edition because I have pledged to never pay money for the Herald; it is a substandard newspaper in my view-- not saying this to offend, but simply as a point of fact. I review the online edition because there is no other option for wholly VT news in the lower half of the state.)
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-- Posted by mark on Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 9:34 pm EST

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Totally agree with white witch
-- Posted by Maureen Gould on Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 4:35 pm EST

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I do beleive what Enoch stated is true if this kid is of special needs that would be completely different due the fact that they dont always know what and where some things are to be taken care of.If that is the case then no action other then sitting down and talking to the student should have been done
-- Posted by Maureen Gould on Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 4:29 pm EST

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I dont beleive u can compare this to revealing clothing. This is definatly the first I have ever heard a kid doing something like this in class.Pulling the pants down to the knees is beyond an itch I would think (it he had an itch ask to be excused to the bathroom to take care of it).I agree this didnt need to be put in the paper but I also think if he was doing what he is accused of that there may be some real issues and that students parents should be aware of before it turns into something more. Im sure the article will be rough for the kid and will possibly cause further damage to him but I would be quite upset if it was my child that witnessed this.
-- Posted by Maureen Gould on Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 4:24 pm EST

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Editorial discussion here for those interested:
http://rutlandherald.typepad.com/editors_blog/
-- Posted by Randal Smathers on Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 1:20 pm EST

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Wow! SCBoy- thats just awful. Poor kid-

I believe that the vast majority of teachers are sincere about their dedication to the kids- and I find it very hard to accept that teenagers would sit there and NOT tell a teacher that a kid was pulling his pants down,and yet 2 days later, report to police that this kid did just that..

very suspicious......
-- Posted by Colleen Wright on Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 12:41 pm EST

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Colleen: I agree with you from a common sense point of view but in reality I think you give some teachers too much credit. There are a zillion ways a teacher could be distracted and not notice something like this. Or, they could just be a space cadet, not all that rare among teachers. I know of a classroom where a kid was set on fire by one of his classmates and the teacher didn't know about it even after the flaming student ran from the room.
-- Posted by SC Boy on Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 12:09 pm EST

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White witch- bottom line- did this actually happen? Or is it a result of teenage rumors growing out of control? Is this bullying? Sure seems like it......
-- Posted by Colleen Wright on Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 11:46 am EST

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Dear Jane- please note that this *alleged* happened in a monitored situation- a classroom- and no one reported this *alleged* incident for two days. Classroom situations, by law in Vermont, have fewer than 20 students to 1 teacher, and most have far fewer students. Seems to me that the teacher would have noticed if there was giggling, inappropriate behavior, and even a shuffling of pullling pants down if they were in the room.

No, I do not think its ok for a grown man to expose himself-but this scenario seems so unlikely as well as the lack of supporting evidence, that it seems like a set up- but I am sure the Herald will retract the article if its found out to be false, and hopefully the parents of the boy will sue the parents of the children who created this drama, along with the Herald for publishing a minors name and defaming his character before court proceedings.....
-- Posted by Colleen Wright on Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 11:43 am EST

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Bottom line...School is NOT the appropriate place to be touching oneself. It IS a case of lewd and lascivious behavior and needs to be addressed. Also, in my opinion and being one who has worked within school systems in this state, I believe these types of incidence need to be brought out into the media so that the parents within the communities in which these children and their parents reside need to take off their "horse blinders" and become aware of what REALLY is going on inside the public schools in our state. Thus the reason our son goes to private school and for those of you who think all families of children who attend private school are financially set, you are quite mistaken. It takes re-prioritizing and compromise on the part of the parents. If you love your children and are able to put yourself after the needs of your children, it is attainable.
-- Posted by White Witch on Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 11:35 am EST

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To Dear Jane: To criticize a school's failure to appropriately monitor and discipline it's students is not to say that this student's behavior was "OK." Of course it's not OK! Please don't oversimplify the issue.

Our society is becoming a bizarre place: on one hand, we seem to promote childlike behavior well into the adult years ("be a kid at heart!"), and yet we hold some kids accountable for crimes as if they were adults. It's a bit schizo for a society.

I say: Let's hold ADULTS responsible (like teachers and principals) before we go after kids. But then, many of us have by now figured out that VT's education system has fallen into rot and decay. The principal is likely collecting a public-funded paycheck that is 4 or 5 times the per capita income of the residents in the town he's employed; as they say, money corrupts, and of course it's easier to just call the cops rather than actually do your own job.
..
-- Posted by mark on Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 11:28 am EST

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Colleen, Well said, and exactly the point I myself was trying to express.
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-- Posted by mark on Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 11:16 am EST

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Colleen, I couldn't agree with you more. nicely put
-- Posted by Michelle Burnett on Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 10:28 am EST

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Strange that they release the name of the boy who is accused of doing this, but not the kids who reported him supposedly exposing himself. All of them are minors. None of their names should be in the paper. NONE.

It seems that there is a tremendous lack of supervision if this kid is able to pull his pants down below his knees, while sitting cross legged and NOT ONE ADULT is around to say- "what are you doing???" Between 1 and 2pm, the kids should be in a classroom setting, with an adult present-where is their (the supervisor/teacher) statement?

Further, this girl who claims that the boy was touching himself told the rest of the kids in the class, but NOT the teacher? If she was so upset about this, why not tell the one in charge? And if they were laughing about it, don't you think that the teacher should have noticed that the kids were laughing? strange she didn't whip out her cell phone and shoot pictures out to all of her friends.

This sounds like a bullying issue to me- sounds like a bunch of kids jumped on the bandwagon to persecute another kid knowing that they could say anything they wanted, and not have their names printed, while getting this other kid in trouble. Rumors fly around a high school, and letting them grow a couple of days before reporting an issue is suspect.

I don't know this kid- but I really question the validity of the incident. I worry about the apparent lack of supervision at Otter Valley, and wonder what the school board thinks of this- or if they even know. And I seriously question the maturity of the reporter who leapt into the fray before court proceedings came forth considering the suspect is a minor.
-- Posted by Colleen Wright on Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 9:28 am EST

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So according to some, it's ok if a teenage boy exposes himself in school? And it's not ok if a man a few years older does it in his front window / park / on the bus? Slightly hypocritcal if you ask me. There seems to be a much more lenient attitude towards the actions of this young man. And at 17 years old, he should certainly know better. This type of behavior might only escalate as he gets older.
-- Posted by Dear Jane on Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 8:59 am EST

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When I was in high school there was a guy in one of my classes who would ask to go to the bathroom and would be gone fifteen minutes. When he came back he would take a nap.
-- Posted by SC Boy on Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 7:33 am EST

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Mary, I am wondering how you feel about the females who feel it is right to go around and almost seeing their whole chest or wearing shorts so short that you can see the the start of their butt and in some case you can see the top part of their butts. and this is the way they wear their clothes they didn't just fall.
I hope this nonsense gets thrown out of court.
-- Posted by Michelle Burnett on Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 6:27 am EST

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SB, the important thing to remember is that the Rutland Herald lives by the adage "sex sells." If it has to do with sex, it will make it's way into this newspaper. Guaranteed.

Now, as to why schools-- after claiming billions in public funding year after year-- are failing to control and discipline their own populations, to the extent of calling upon even more governmental elements (the police)-- to this, I don't have an answer. But it seems pathetic to me. Not to mention how untrustworthy the "eyewitness" accounts of teenagers may be in the viciously cliquish, bullying and brutally socially competitive atmosphere of today's public schools.

I went to high school once; I'm sure at any given moment, should any typical teen be seen or heard by just the wrong individual, things could go very wrong for him in today's hyperactive atmosphere.

My conclusion is that if a school needs to call the police for disciplinary matters, the phone call should be followed by another one to the school board bearing the resignation of said school's principal due to an obvious incapability to handle the administering of his school. Seems harsh? From those who are given much, much is expected.
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-- Posted by mark on Wed, Jun 10, 2009, 12:54 am EST

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otter valley also has their fair share of ho's and exposing himself that is very sick he needs help bad
-- Posted by mary white on Tue, Jun 9, 2009, 9:51 pm EST

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Sounds like another Big Lots employee in the making. If this kid is a few slices short of a loaf, it might be less offensive. I don't see any mention of him having special needs. Use to be, the promise of answering to your parents was enough to keep most headed on the straight and narrow, or at least know where it was.
-- Posted by Enoch on Tue, Jun 9, 2009, 7:19 pm EST

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Who told the reporter???? This is the kind of thing that should not be handled in the newspaper. It's really not "newsworthy" information. Now the kid will not only be ridiculed by his peers but by the whole county.
-- Posted by SB None on Tue, Jun 9, 2009, 4:19 pm EST

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I personally feel that while this may require a reprimand in school, and certainly better judgment on the part of the young kid, regardless of intentional disrobing or not, there is absolutely no reason for court action or an article in a local newspaper about this. You can't charge someone for being plain idiotic.
-- Posted by Ben Chamby on Tue, Jun 9, 2009, 2:48 pm EST

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there is a difference with somnone's pants Slipping down and someone who purposely wears their pants so they expose their butt. I mean my little kids pants "slip" down however I would not buy pants that were meant to be worn that way.
I still say this Minor had an Itch in his privates after all don't we all get the "itch" at times no matter if we are females or males.
-- Posted by Michelle Burnett on Tue, Jun 9, 2009, 12:34 pm EST

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While I do feel that the details in this story are in poor taste, I also feel that minimizing this act and comparing someone's pants slipping down to someone exposing themselves and masturbating in public is also in poor taste.
-- Posted by none none on Tue, Jun 9, 2009, 11:10 am EST

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so lets start charging people who have their butt cracks showing (I personally find that offensive) and the females who wear their shirts so low that you can see most of their chest or their shorts so short you can start to see the butt cheeks isn't this indecent exposure it is in my opinion what is the definition of indecent exposure
Who is to say this male didn't have an itch
-- Posted by Michelle Burnett on Tue, Jun 9, 2009, 8:54 am EST

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Thank god Gordon Dritschilo is on the scene with notepad and pencil. We could have missed this important story.
-- Posted by noozereeder on Tue, Jun 9, 2009, 5:21 am EST

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