Associated Press 10:55 AM CDT, July 22, 2008
LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A former worker at a treatment center for at-risk youth was sentenced to four years in prison for having sexual contact with a 16-year-old boy who lived at the center.
Shady Manzo, 28, of Lafayette also was ordered Monday to serve two years on probation, register as a sex offender upon her release and pay a $5,000 fine.
Before sentencing Manzo, Tippecanoe Superior Court Judge Thomas Busch noted that what she did typically would not be a crime in Indiana, but that Manzo had been in a position of trust.
"She was paid to do the opposite of what she did," Busch said. "It's particularly troubling when people interested in protecting other people instead harm them."
Manzo pleaded guilty in May to a felony count of sexual misconduct by a service provider.
She had worked at the Cary Home for Children, a residential treatment facility in Tippecanoe County for at-risk youth, for six weeks when she was arrested in January.
Charges were filed after the center's former executive director learned that an employee had been giving beer and cigarettes to juvenile residents. That employee was identified as Manzo.
The 16-year-old boy told police investigators that he was in his room one night when Manzo came in and took him to an upstairs TV room, where the sex act took place.
A love letter that Manzo wrote to the teenager was presented at the sentencing hearing, during which Manzo apologized for her behavior and told the judge she accepted full responsibility.
"I'm truly sorry for those I hurt," said Manzo, a mother of two young girls.
The 16-year-old boy's mother testified Monday, saying that what happened to her son was one of her greatest fears. She said her son has had to go to counseling.
