She was a respected teacher that teens looked up to -- the kind that they'd ask to write college their recommendation letters -- but now she faces sex abuse charges involving two students.
In court Tuesday, Allison Marchese, 37, pleaded not guilty to second degree sexual assault, risk of injury and impairing the morals of a child.
She turned herself in to police Feb. 12, following an investigation that began in January after a staff member learned of the allegations.
The mother of two is accused of stalking two students at Daniel Hand High School in Madison, Connecticut, where she taught English since 2003. Police say she sent the boys, ages 15 and 17, inappropriate photos and messages on social media.
Police said that Marchese got to know one alleged victim, the 17-year-old, through summer football conditioning workouts at the school, which she supervised and he attended, according to WFSB. Investigators say things quickly got inappropriate after Marchese, and the boy started following each other on Instagram in the fall of 2014.
The boy told police that after Thanksgiving, Marchese started sending him "weird" sexual messages. She also shared partially nude selfies on Instagram, where numerous students could see them, according to WTNH.
Marchese's interactions with the student escalated until one day in December, when she allegedly called the boy to her classroom during school hours, locked the door, closed the blinds, and performed oral sex on him.
The victim told police he "freaked out" after that and told Marchese that she could give him $200 to stay silent about their encounter. According to WTNH, Marchese replied with threats, telling him that "her father was an abusive man who had spent time in jail, had contacts in the Mafia and would tell his boys in New York and [the victim] would never play football again."
Like the 17-year-old victim, the 15-year-old said his interactions with Marchese started off like a normal student-teacher relationship. He said that they were friendly throughout this freshman year, starting when he was 14, but that by the end of the school year Marchese began messaging him "nonstop" through Instagram.
The boy asked her repeatedly to cut it out, according to police. When the boy told her that he just wanted to have a normal, appropriate relationship again, she allegedly replied via Instagram, "I know when to stop, I know when to move on, but 'I know' is different from 'I can.'"
Marchese's husband is also a teacher at Daniel Hand High School.
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