Chicago Hope Teacher Sentenced For Molesting Football Player

CHICAGO (STMW) -- A former teacher was sentenced to two years of sex offender probation Wednesday after she admitted she molested a teenage student from the private Christian West Side high school where she taught.

Kathryn Vail-Wesley, 24, received the sentence after she pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse for the late 2008 incident involving the then 17-year-old male.

Vail-Wesley sexually assaulted the victim both at her home and in her classroom at Chicago Hope Academy, according to Cook County prosecutors

The case drew headlines in 2009 when the victim's mother revealed her son was forced out of school following revelations of the assault.

School officials refused to comment on the case when questioned by reporters.

"Chicago Hope Academy doesn't discuss school affairs in public," principal Mike Laneve had said. "We do that for the protection of the children and the families."

The then-star football player's mother said she was given an ultimatum a few days after the sexual assault allegations came to light.

School officials told her "that this was the last straw,'' recalled the player's mother, who asked not to be named. "He wasn't welcome back, that I could either take him out in good standing or they would expel him."

The mother said her son can be "mouthy," but she didn't know of any serious discipline problems at school. She eventually sent her son to a public school in the western suburbs.

(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2010. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)