Thursday, October 8, 2009
Teacher who offered student soda laced with Tabasco avoids jail
MIAMI (WSVN) -- A former special education teacher convicted of disciplining a 7-year-old student with Tabasco sauce will not spend any time behind bars.
A jury found Sylvia Tagle guilty of only one of eight counts of child abuse for the incident that took place while the 25-year educator was teaching at Miami Lakes' Bob Graham Educational Center.
Mario Serralta, the father of the student, said justice was not served. "Special needs childs are not going to get protection from the courts that they deserve," he said. "Here's a teacher who spiked a can of soda with hot sauce to teach a kid a lesson. He throws up, jumping up and down in anguish, and here the court hands a sentence of two years, completely ignoring what the child went through."
The autistic boy, who Tagle suspected of having previously drunk her soda, became ill after consuming the spiked concoction. "Any child that goes to school deserves a safe place, and to think that I thought he was in a safe place and safe hands, [only] to have someone harm him there is really upsetting," said the child's mother during the former instructor's sentencing hearing Wednesday inside the Metro Justice building.
Following a two-year-long court battle, the veteran educator finally learned her punishment. "I do think that the appropriate sentence for Ms. Tagle is to be placed on probation for two years," stated Judge Diane Ward.
Tagle, who dodged up to five years behind bars, must also perform 100 community service hours. Already without a job in the Miami-Dade Schools system, the former instructor stands to lose her teaching certification with this conviction.
Outraged by what he considered a lenient judgment, the victim's father took Ward to task. "Unfortunately, I think the same thing has happened in this court that happened with Ms. Tagle. After being exposed to so many difficult situations, you here in this criminal court and [Ms. Tagle] dealing with all of her kids, you get desensitized," said an irate Serralta, who happens to be a trial lawyer.
The judge did not back down. "I understand that you are a parent that is concerned about a vulnerable child, but I am here on behalf of the community as well, and I fully believe that the sentence that I imposed in this case is correct," said Ward.
In her defense, Tagle claims she uses hot pepper sauce on everything she eats and drinks. "Whatever happened was not done intentionally," said the former teacher.
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