Former Teacher Pleads Guilty to Sex Assault Charges
August 7th, 2014 by iPhone
A 57-year-old school teacher that resigned after being arrested, accepted a plea bargain, Wednesday morning, in Drew County Circuit Court.
Helen Banks, a former Drew Central High School teacher, agreed to a term of 8 years probation and will be required to register as a sex offender.
It had been alleged that during a 6 month period, prior to June 5, Banks had “twice engaged in sexual contact”, which was earlier described as “inappropriate contact and communication with a 16 year old female student.”
Banks was arrested on June 11, and resigned her position on June 12.
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Lord help the children. This mess is getting worse everyday seems like.
8 years probation? Really? No jail time? This was a compete abuse of her position as a teacher! This is what is wrong with our society! Our judicial system has gone completely off the rails!
Helen Banks is a wonderful teacher! She was well engaged with her students and I don’t believe she is a bad individual. She has a beautiful heart and soul. We all make mistakes so we shouldn’t judge at all.
Mrs. Banks will forever be my favorite person. People do dumb things in life and they should be given a chance for forgiveness. Being registered as a sex offender she will forever be resented, looked at, and hated. I know she probably feels horrible about her decisions. I pray for this woman everyday and I’m sure she will forever pray about her decisions.
Its just an internet violation not skin to skin contact……things happen for a reason. its already bad that we stereotype them like theyre aliens anyway. how about you gain that experience of what a register sex offender is before you seriously start judging. look at the cause and know the level difference……….please. i love this teacher. she’s really a cool cat. people make mistakes. in Gods eyes i will forgive her and what her decision she has made. the 16 yr old girl should be in jail herself. they do have the rights to choose their actions as well…..I’ve dated RSO and listening to his story was harsh and i decided to do my best to help and stand by him. he wasn’t a bad guy. just a small public indecency set him to 25 yrs. WOw peeing outside is really that serious wtf…..i would catch a serial killer and set him to that than some indecency
NOT right she should serve time, shes no better than a man who would serve the time if it were male on male crime!!!
Well act like her and see where it gets you and then let the male do the same thing and see where that goes to……everyone has a psychological that ourselves have. Some of us don’t even know. I forgive her in Gods eye. Our town is crazy, you live here so you’re crazy too and don’t even know it. One person at a time someone will do something wrong. It might even be you. Don’t test karma. Not everyone’s a goody goody two shoe…. Lets do some research shall we?
My heart is broken for all those affected by what has happened here. My heart is broken for those who are so quick to judge. We don’t know all the surrounding circumstances of either party. We all screw up and we all make mistakes, different mistakes, but mistakes none the same. I agree that if this were male/male, the consequences would likely be more severe. But we don’t know that for sure because we don’t know the whole story. Don’t judge someone because they sin differently than you. Instead, pray for them and pray that God will open your eyes to the things you need to work on in your own life.
Seems like our public officials are condoning these types of behavior. This sicko gets 8 years’ probation and the guy that molested two 10 year old boys gets a $10,000.00 bond? She is free and I am sure he was bonded out (only needed a $1000.00 to bond out). But, let someone with a drug addiction problem get caught with too much weed or a little meth and they throw the book at them and lock them up for an absurd amount of time.
I just don’t understand our judicial system. People commit crimes and then don’t receive a harsh punishment. That’s why people keep committing crimes. Not in just this case, but in every case. The liberalism is ridiculous. If they would start punishing people more and more harsh, then maybe crime rates would go down. Letting someone spend their life in jail is unreal! Come on Americans! What happened to our society?
Just like immigration……catch & release.
Nobody would PLEA guilty to a sexual assault charge if they were not guilty. To everyone that is verbally saying she was done wrong “it was only a hug or kiss on the cheek” no it was more than that or she would not be registering as a sex offender the rest of her life. To don’t get it, no it wasn’t just an internet violation it was more than that. I do agree I will not judge her it is not my place but when someone ADMITS her involvement with a student or any other juvenile she is telling what happened that is not anyone judging her. As far as the student yes their involvement was wrong also but the adult in the situation was placed in a position of trust with the juvenile. She may have been the best teacher there ever was but that doesn’t change the fact she made poor choices and decisions. I do understand friends and family backing her that is what they should do but they should also understand what she allowed to happen was wrong and not only was their enough proof to bring charges against her but she herself admitted out of her own mouth she did do these things so don’t turn your back on her but don’t make excuses & defend her actions to try and make her out to be the one who was done bad when she admitted she is the one that was wrong. I would hope Mrs. Banks would feel worse knowing people are actually saying she was done wrongly when she knows that is not true. Prayers for all involved everyone makes bad decision (some worse or with more consequences than others) that doesn’t mean your life is over instead it means you have to deal with the consequences of the bad decisions and learn from each one of them.
It is a sad situation but if one will look back at all the sexual crimes against minors note on Monticello Live, it seems to be a trend that all the offenders receive is probation and making them register as a sex offender. I think Monticello Live needs to have a special one day and list all the registered sex offenders and the punishment that the offenders received as well as the names and addresses to make the public aware of the situations.
It clearly says there was “sexual contact” twice. I don’t agree with the outcome at all. She should def have to serve time for what she has done bc she clearly “knew what she was doing when she done it”. Nobody will ever really know the dirty details bc she has made sure that didn’t get out in the open by accepting a plea bargain. Nevertheless I will pray for her and her family and anyone affected by this entire thing!