DATE: Wednesday, April 9, 1997              TAG: 9704090425

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS                      LENGTH:   33 lines

AREA SPECIAL-ED TEACHER FACES SEXUAL CHARGES

A special-education teacher in a regional public school program has been charged with taking sexual liberties with a 17-year-old student during an overnight camping trip to a Newport News park.

Angela Ellsworth, 24, of the 1000 block of Cherokee Road in Portsmouth, has been charged with taking indecent liberties with a minor, Patricia L. Schlosser, a spokeswoman for Newport News police, said. Ellsworth posted a $5,000 bond and was released.

The incident allegedly occurred at about 11 p.m. on Sept. 18 during an overnight camping trip by the Chesapeake Re-Ed program, Schlosser said. That program is one of four that make up the Southeastern Cooperative Educational Program, known as SECEP.

The youth involved, a Chesapeake resident, reported the incident to authorities in March. The Chesapeake office of Child Protective Services investigated and made a report to Newport News police, resulting in the felony charge against the teacher.

Ellsworth apparently invited the boy into her tent, where indecent fondling allegedly occurred, Schlosser said.

The teacher was relieved of her duties on Monday, but no decision regarding her employment has been made, according to Judith Green, director of SECEP. Ellsworth taught at the school in the 1200 block of N. River Road, Green said. The administrator declined to say how long Ellsworth had been employed or to provide other details. KEYWORDS: ARREST SEX CRIME CHILD MOLESTER TEACHER

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