Sex Offender Teacher Takes Fun Out of Our Job

By Shannon in News on Oct 22, 2006 6:00PM

Here at Chicagoist, we try to make you laugh as well as think (slash drink) and get off your arse and explore this great city. Then another disturbing case of a teacher's alleged sexual misconduct with a grade schooler comes to light, and it just sucks all the wind out of our sardonic sails. We have some respect, you know. (Honest!)

Plainfield teacher Paul Graff, 34, was arrested Friday on charges that he sexually abused a young girl, going as far back as 1996. The girl was in grade school at the time. Graff teaches phys ed and health at Wesmore Elementary School. What's odd is that the girl was never a student of Graff's; he met her through an outside lifeguarding job. This bodes well for current students of Graff's, we guess, for he's not suspected of abusing his own students. The girl, now a teenager, claims Graff abused her for several years, at one point showering naked with her at the local swimming pool. She also says he molested her in her own home.

Being a minor in a sexual abuse case, the girl's identity is so far completely anonymous. Graff, however, is up for grabs: they list his home address in the Herald News article, along with the fact that he lives next to a playground. His phone number is described as "unlisted," leading us to wonder if it hadn't been, whether or not they would have printed it. We think it's rather strange that a child sex offender would focus on one particular girl outside of his school jurisdiction, without any other suspected charges ... it almost smacks of obsession. On the other hand, since he met her randomly through his lifeguard job ... if it happened once, it could happen again.

Image: "Prison Break" by e.q.