Teacher bribed teen student with alcohol for sexual encounter, Illinois prosecutors say

An Illinois kindergarten teacher is charged with criminal sexual assault and child pornography, WGN reported.

Shannon Griffin, 49, was a kindergarten teacher at Jordan Baptist School in Burbank, Illinois, when prosecutors say she made contact with a 15-year-old student on social media and bribed him with alcohol for sex, WMAQ reported.

During a monthlong investigation into conduct from 2013 to 2019, investigators found she “engaged in sexual conduct” with a student at the school and sent nude photos to another, requesting them in return, WBBM reported.

“She had heard what the girls said about the victim in the locker room,” Assistant State’s Attorney Kyle Gruca said, according to WMAQ. “The victim asked the defendant what they had said and the defendant said the victim was good in bed.”

Prosecutors say Griffin met the boy on a school bus during his freshman year while she was a cheerleading coach and he was on the soccer team, the Chicago Sun Times reported.

“She would be really close to him,” Jordan Baptist graduate Yhaneera Aparicio-Armas said, according to WLS. “She would put her arm on him and she would sit too close to him, especially when we would have chapel.”

In 2018, Griffin sent inappropriate photos and videos to another 16-year-old student over Snapchat, prosecutors say, according to the Chicago Sun Times. When she asked the boy to send some in return, he refused and contacted police.

Griffin’s husband is Jordan Baptist Church pastor Thomas Griffin, with whom she has three daughters, WGN reported. The Jordan Baptist School website has been shut down.

When one parent’s son showed him video of Griffin “doing things to herself,” he removed his children from the school and stopped attending its affiliated church, WBBM reported.

“She would write me up and other girls and, like, how ironic that you’re telling us how to dress, us how to be modest, and be Christian women, and you turn around doing the exact opposite,” Aparicio-Armas said, according to WLS.

Griffin is charged with “five counts of criminal sexual assault, one count of solicitation of child pornography, one count of distribution of harmful materials and one count of grooming,” the TV station reported. Bond is set at $500,000 and $250,000 for two separate cases, according to WGN.