HERNDON, Va. — A North Carolina teacher has been charged with trying to have sex with a 13-year-old former student from Northern Virginia.
Fairfax County Police said Monday that Kathleen Capitano, 24, of Shallotte, North Carolina, has been charged with four felony counts of using communication systems to facilitate an offense against a child.
Capitano met the boy while interning at Coates Elementary in Herndon during the 2014-15 school year, Fairfax County Schools spokesman John Torre confirms.
“She met a 12-year-old student at Coates and a physical relationship began between the two of them,” says Fairfax County police spokesman Don Goddart.
When police became aware of the inappropriate relationship, Goddardt says working with the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, detectives and special agents tracked her movements online.
“[We] determined Ms. Capitano had made a reservation at a hotel in Fairfax County for this past Saturday the 16th in an apparent attempt to engage this 13 year old in sex acts again,” he says.
Capitano was arrested Saturday at the Herndon hotel. The victim and his parents were notified beforehand, Goddhart says.
In North Carolina, Brunswick County schools spokeswoman Jessica Swencki said Capitano has been placed on paid leave from her job as a math teacher at Shallotte Middle School.
At an arraignment Monday, a judge decided Capitano would be held without bond.
WTOP’s Megan Cloherty contributed to this report.
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