A former teacher at a Mayfair public grade school has been ordered to stand trial for allegedly engaging her 14-year-old student in numerous sexual encounters last March and April.
Stephanie M. Amato, 30, of the Northeast, remains free on $125,000 bail pending an Aug. 15 arraignment in Common Pleas Court. She is charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse/forcible compulsion, unlawful contact with a minor, statutory sexual assault, endangering a child, corrupting a minor, indecent exposure, indecent assault and having sex with a student as a teacher. Following a preliminary hearing last Friday, Family Court Judge Allan L. Tereshko dismissed a charge of interfering with the custody of a child.
Amato was suspended from Ethan Allen School, 6329 Battersby St., without pay in June after the School District of Philadelphia learned of allegations against her. The victim’s father reportedly learned of the alleged sexual encounters, removed his son from Allen and notified authorities. The school district notified other parents of the allegations in a June 4 letter. Amato had been a teacher for six years.
During the court hearing, the lone known victim testified that he and Amato had sex more than 10 times in her parents’ Northeast home, in her car and in a park on weekends and school days, often late at night, according to The Inquirer. The victim further testified that Amato served him wine from a liquor cabinet in her parents’ home. ••
