Nearby: Former Herndon Student Teacher Charged with Soliciting Teen

by Karen Goff — April 18, 2016 at 4:30 pm 9 Comments

A woman who formerly worked as a student teacher at a Herndon elementary school has been charged with four counts of using the Internet to solicit a child, Fairfax County Police said.

Fairfax County Police and the FBI said Kathleen Antonina Capitano, 24, of Shallotte, North Carolina, arrived in Herndon on Saturday with the apparent intent of meeting a 13-year-old boy for the purposes of engaging in sex.

Officials said Capitano originally met the boy when she was a student teacher at Fairfax County Public Schools’ Coates Elementary School in Herndon in 2015.

Unbeknownst to Capitano, law enforcement authorities had been alerted to her online communication with the child and were waiting for her in Virginia. She was taken into custody.

Detectives said they met with the teen and his parents prior to Capitano’s arrival in Fairfax County.

The case is still under investigation and additional charges are possible. Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Solvers electronically by visiting http://www.fairfaxcrimesolvers.org or text-a-tip by texting “TIP187” plus your message to CRIMES(274637)** or by calling 1-866-411-TIPS(8477), or call Fairfax County Police at 703-691-2131Call: 703-691-2131.

Photo: Kathleen Antonina Capitano/FCPD

Lisa W.

Is she crying? There’s no crying in using the Internet to solicit a child.
- June Smith
  
  She didn’t use the internet – she met him in the classroom where she was teaching. I really thought our Public School System did better background checking to prevent things like this – but pedofiles are clever
  - Karen Goff
    
    The official charges are “four felony counts of use of communications systems to facilitate certain offenses involving children under 15 years of age.” So regardless of where they met, she used the Internet to set up the hotel meeting.
    - June Smith
      
      AFTER the connection was made in the classroom … the FOLLOW UP connections were made via the internet. There IS some accountabilility by the Public School System.
      
      People don’t become peodfile overnight – when their eyes meet across a crowded classroom
  - cosmo
    
    Background checks only work if there’s a history. They’re great at digging up the past but no so much at predicting the future. If someone doesn’t have a record, there’s not much that can be done.
    - June Smith
      
      Agree – but pedofiles don’t just suddenly develop a tendancy for sweet young things … there are always signs … but as I said before, pedofiles are very careful … they do cover their tracks well
- Ming the Merciless
  
  “Boo hoo hoo I’m just a poor misguided girl, please don’t punish me too harshly!”
Chuck Morningwood

A young man’s teenage clearasil fantasy ruined.

Well, darling, at least you can turn to the same profession as all of those other burned out teachers: real estate. Something tells me that you might have a special knack for closing that RE deal.
- Kendall Swarm
  
  I could be persuaded to believe that a young man’s life was saved and that a woman just developed into a quick study, soon to graduate from prison as a human trafficker. All eyes on both to see how their lives will unfold.

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