Law&Crime Sidebar - Lunch Lady Groomed and Sexually Assaulted High School Freshman

Episode Date: August 17, 2024

Andie Rosafort, 33, admitted in court that she had sex with a teen in her car in Danbury, Connecticut in January 2023. The boy reported the assault to his parents soon afterward, which launched an investigation. Rosafort allegedly groomed the boy for months prior to the assault, sending him explicit photos and videos on Snapchat. Law&Crime’s Elizabeth Millner spoke with former sex crimes prosecutor Sarena Townsend about Rosafort's plea.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Download the FREE Upside App at https://upside.app.link/sidebar to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas.HOST:Elizabeth Millner: https://x.com/_emillnerLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger and Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. views shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. A lunch lady in Connecticut has admitted that she sexually abused a teenage boy, and now she's pleaded guilty to two felonies. And it all happened right before she was supposed to go to trial. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and crime. I'm Elizabeth Milner. 33-year-old Andy Page Rosa, a cafeteria worker in Danbury, Connecticut, entered pleas in state court on Thursday, which means she'll avoid having her dirty laundry aired out during a trial. It was set to start this week. Now, she did admit to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy. Right now, we don't know

the exact terms of her plea agreement or her potential punishment, but we may learn more at a court hearing next month. Hey, everybody. I just want to take a quick second to thank Upside for sponsoring this episode, A Sidebar. So Upside is a free app that gets you cash back on daily essentials like gas, groceries, dining. Now, believe it or not, I do know how to pump my own gas. I don't know if that was controversial or not, but when I do, I can use the Upside app. Why not get cash back when you fill up your tank, right? And yes, this is actual real cashback, no confusing rewards or points or credits, just actual money you can transfer straight to your bank account. So Once you have the app, claim an offer for whatever you're buying on Upside, you pay as usual using a debit or credit card and you follow the steps on the app and you get paid.

And as you just saw me do, you can use Upside at places like, oh, I don't know, Shell, Exxon, Mobile, 711, Sonoco, restaurants like Chipotle, Papa John's, Dairy Queen, Domino's, KFC, Taco Bell. That's just to name a few. Now to find out how much you could earn, click the link in the description to download Upside or scan the QR code on screen and use our promo code sidebar and get an extra 25 cents back on every game. gallon on your first tank of gas. That's promo code sidebar for an extra 25 cents back on your first gallon of gas. So how did we get here? Cops began investigating the case in 2023 after new Fairfield high school admin reported that there might be an inappropriate relationship between one of their students and an employee. When the allegations were made, Rosafurt resigned from her part-time position. A friend of the teen called his father back in January of 2023 to tell

him that they were attending a party at a friend's house. That's when the teen suddenly. suddenly said he needed to leave for a little bit to pack for a trip, but that he'd be back. When he returned, he was acting strangely, according to his friend. The friend later found out that he had left the party to have sex with Roosevelt. Police say Roosevelt picked up the victim from his friend's house and drove a short distance away, and that's when the assault occurred. We're not going to get into the details of that encounter, but during a forensic interview with police, the victim allegedly told them that he felt uncomfortable after it was all over. So he left Roosevelt's SUV and went back to the party.

The teen reportedly told his parents what happened soon after. Officers found text messages and explicit content from Rosaford on the teen's phone, suggesting Roosevelt had been grooming him for some time. According to police, multiple students told them that the middle school lunch aid was talking to freshman boys on social media like Instagram and Snapchat. When Roosevelt realized there was a warrant out for her arrest, police say she turned herself in. and she posted a $100,000 bond and was released on the condition that she have no contact with any minors besides her own children, and she's not allowed on social media at all. Now, let's take a closer look at the arrest warrant application filed in Superior Court in February of 2023. The victim described Rosaford as a lunch lady when he was in eighth grade during the semester before summer of 2022.

He described how he and all of the students found her funny and personable and the students, including the victim, Found her Instagram profile and the victim then added her on Snapchat. The victim then stated he and Rosafort began messaging via Snapchat over the summer of 2022, leading up to his ninth grade year. The victim stated in September 2022 while at a friend's house was the first time he received a nude photo from Rosaford via Snapchat. The victim stated he remembered Roosevelt's Snapchat was the Peaches page and she used the same username for Instagram. The victim recounted that after following each other on Instagram, Rosaford messaged him via Instagram to add her on Snapchat.

The victim detailed at the first time he received a nude photo from Rosafurt. She had messaged him and asked him, you want to see something. The victim then stated he received a picture of Rosafurt's vagina from her. The victim stated he was surprised he received a photo from her. So he stated he asked Roosevelt if she meant to send the photo to him. And she then sent another photo. The victim stated that many times Rosefurt sent unsolicited photos and videos. The affidavit also states that Rosafort,

specifically asked for the victim to send her photos of his private area. And because we live in a day and age where there's practically a record of everything, detectives found videos on the victim's phone of Roosevelt. The investigator wrote in the arrest warrant application, I viewed eight videos recovered from the victim's phone with written consent. The videos were iPhone screen recording videos sent from Snapchat specifically from the username the Peaches page, which I was able to confirm with observation. The videos all contained explicit content and dependent.

depicted Rosefort, who I was able to readily identified in lingerie or nude. Investigators were also able to use cell phone tower pings to confirm that Rosafurt was in the area of the victim's friend's house when the assault occurred. Roosevelt was charged with one count of sexual assault in the second degree, one count of enticing a minor by computer, and one count of risk of injury to a child. She entered a guilty plea to the sexual assault and injury to a child charges last week. Her next court hearing is at the end of September. It's unclear right now if she'll face sentencing on that day.

Well, here to talk more about this case as criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, Serena Townsend, Serena, thank you so much for being here today. I really appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Of course, of course. So talk to me a little bit. Were you surprised at all that Andy Roosevelt pleaded guilty and avoided a trial in this case? And again, this is like on the eve she was supposed to go to trial.

Yeah. I'm not necessarily surprised. What we see in a lot of these kinds of cases is that the defendant does like to go to trial simply because usually the plea deals are very aggressive and they require you to do a lot of things. Sometimes you could avoid jail time, but for the most part in these cases, at the very least, you have to admit what you did and you have to register as a sex offender. So a lot of times, women, men in this situation, they do like to take the case to trial to see if they could beat the charge. So it is a little bit surprising in that way. And she hasn't been sentenced yet, but what do you

think the appropriate punishment will be for this case? Oh man, I always feel like the appropriate punishment is never the one that actually happens because think of it this way, you know, when you take a plea, it's a compromise. Typically in a compromise, both sides walk away a little bit disappointed. So I have a feeling that the plea certainly required her to admit her guilt. Hopefully it required her to plead guilty to a felony rather than a misdemeanor. Certainly requires her to register as a sex offender, but I do wonder if they got any jail time out of her or if they're going to place her on probation. If she does avoid jail time in this case, do you think that does a disservice to the victim in this case as well? And do you think

that's also because, you know, if there was a male defendant doing this to a female victim versus a female defendant doing this to a male victim, what do you think kind of the disconnect will be if she avoids jail time? Sure. I think that there is a double standard still in today's day and age between the female defendants and the male defendants in sex crimes cases. So I do think that perhaps, you know, the victim and certainly the victim's family might feel a little slighted if she does get away without any jail time. Then again, I think if she does get away with no jail time, the prosecutor probably felt like this is a better deal than having to force the victim to take the stand and testify and confront his abuser. Because as we all know

in this field, that is kind of opening up the wounds and re-traumatizing the survivor of the sex assault. So there is that compromise there. And we cover a lot of these cases here at law and crime. And what I found interesting to me is this pattern that we're seeing, where these defendants are luring these victims and grooming these victims. First, it starts off with a social media ad, then it turns into a nude photo exchange. What are your thoughts on how social media plays a role and sometimes in these crimes. Social media is very dangerous for young children in so many ways, and particularly in this way.

First of all, how did she even get that child's social media handle? It's not, you know, appropriate for her to even have that. And that's literally step one, let alone the further communications and then what it turned into. So it's very scary for kids these days with social media because they're vulnerable. And it's very strange to me that this was a luncheon. lady rather than a teacher. I mean, usually when people are able to manipulate children,

it's because they have a very close contact with them in an innocent way at first, whether it's a clergyman or a teacher, a doctor, things like that. But here, if it's a lunch lady, how was she able to get that deep into conversation and relationship with these children? And like you said, the social media is what's kind of bringing her to that place. So it is dangerous, very dangerous. And the details in this case really break my heart for the victim where, you know, I think maybe in the past people might recognize this as like a cool thing, which obviously it's not. It's disturbing. It's honestly, quite frankly, just disgusting. And what was interesting is I think that the victim knew something wasn't right. The victim knew that he was uncomfortable. The victim told his parents, told his friend, what are your thoughts on just the victim's mindset going throughout this entire process? But even the assaults, what are your thoughts about? just kind of how uncomfortable the victim felt in this case who is just a boy himself going through puberty going through you know that awkward phase in their lives but what are your thoughts about that sure it's a very difficult time for children at that age as it is and you're dealing

with all sorts of different hormones and feelings and insecurities and here you have this grown woman taking advantage of that and you ask me how I feel about him I feel very proud of him that he spoke out. Because you're right, in the past, especially with male victims, you know, there is that stigma. And I think a lot of people tend to say, well, they weren't harmed, this was good. He's high-fiving his friends down the hallway. And studies have shown that that's absolutely not true. This is a traumatic experience for somebody that age, especially, including for boys. And so kudos to him for speaking out and for participating as much as he did, obviously in the prosecution, to allow them to get to this point where they've had enough evidence collected so that they could get a

plea out of her. In the past, we've seen victims who have sued their perpetrators in cases like this. Do you think that this is an avenue or a path that the victim could also take in this case, even though there were criminal charges filed too? You know, it is really interesting. Every case is different. And in some cases, you may not be able to. I think he might have an opportunity in this case because the school had a certain duty to protect him. A lot of times people feel it may not be worth it to sue an individual. They may not have the deep pockets, if you will, to make somebody whole again. But if a school is liable, then he might make, you know, it might make sense to do this. And from what I saw, it sounded like there were already complaints to the

school about this woman or maybe other people, other teachers, adults, with respect to sexual acts with these children. And it sounded like the school did an investigation and didn't find anything. So to me, you know, they were on notice. It sounds like. And, you know, it's probably worth pursuing, at least inquiring about a lawsuit against the school and the individual. And as we continue to see more cases like this, what are your thoughts on what schools can do school districts, but even as well as parents, as far as having those really tough and quite frankly awkward conversations with their children? What are your thoughts on that? Sure. I mean, parents are parents and they need to protect their children.

But they also feel like when they send their children to school, that they're protected at school too. onus is on the school while the child is there to protect them and to make sure that their teachers are vetted and trained. Schools in order to make better choices need to do a better job in their hiring process. And they also need to bring people on to train their teachers and their faculty who aren't teachers on, you know, these kinds of things. You know, whether it's a scared straight type of thing where they tell them, look, you know, you could choose not to follow the law and you could do the wrong thing. But these are the types of consequences. that you're going to face if you do that, obviously the better thing would be to train them to

prevent all of these kinds of things from happening. So I do think schools need to be more vigilant. They need to be auditing their hiring practices and the teachers that they hire. And they need to listen to their students when their students are saying, hey, something is off about this teacher, something's not right. They need to give, you know, their students a little bit more of the benefit of the doubt in these kinds of things. Kids are not stupid. They're just young. Serena Townsend, thank you so much for joining us for this really hard conversation. I really appreciate your time today. Thank you for having me.

All right, everybody, that does it for this episode of Sidebar. Thank you so much for joining us. And please subscribe to us anywhere you listen to your podcasts, whether it's Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. I'm Elizabeth Milner, and this has been Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. You can binge all episodes of this law and crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.