A 17-year-old took the stand Wednesday and testified how his relationship with his homeroom teacher, Heather Zeo, began with a dream, escalated to Facebook flirtations and ended with alleged sexual intercourse in a Montgomery Township parking lot.
Later, during Zeo’s preliminary hearing before District Judge Harold Borek, another 17-year-old took the stand and quietly recounted the same Facebook flirtations and sexual conversations with Zeo, his math teacher at North Penn High School.
In the end, all charges against Zeo, a 36-year-old married mother of three from Warrington, were held over by Borek for a Sept. 2 county court arraignment.
Zeo will be tried for a third-degree felony count of endangering the welfare of a child and four misdemeanor counts of corruption of minors.
Assistant District Attorney Kate McGill said they became aware of new information at the hearing, and they would be looking into it.
There could be a potential tampering of evidence charge against Zeo in relation to a testimony of one of the victims, McGill said.
She said there is no mandatory or minimum term for the felony count.
“We will be asking for jail time,” McGill said.
If convicted, Zeo faces up to seven years in prison or a $15,000 fine for the endangerment charge, and up to five years in prison or a $10,000 fine for each corruption charge, according to Borek.
Every chair in the 24-seat courtroom was filled by police detectives, and classmates and family of the victims and Zeo, which included her husband, Phillip
Two members of Bikers Against Child Abuse of Montgomery County were there as well.
In his testimony, the first 17-year-old told the court how his relationship with Zeo started out as a student-teacher relationship, but then she added him on Facebook and they began talking as friends.
“One step led to another,” he said, “and it became a sexual relationship, a sexual affair.”
The relationship began in late April-early May, he said.
“It started by I had a dream and I asked her if she wanted to know about the dream,” he said. “I told her the dream had sexual detail and asked if she was sure. She said yes and that’s where it began.”
The youth testified that the conversation about his dream occurred online.
He said in late April, the two decided to meet up. They agreed to meet near the Target off Route 309 in the parking lot. He drove his mom’s car, he said, while Zeo met him in her van.
“I got out of my car, I got into her car, we went to the back seat and we fondled and kissed,” he said. “I went home, and then we talked about what happened and we planned on doing it again.”
He said they met again a week later at the same location. This time, when they got to her back seat, she brought out four condoms and gave him one. They then had sex.
“She did know my age,” he said. “She said once I turned 18 everything would be OK. I’d be a legal adult.”
He said they also fondled and kissed — but never had sex — at North Penn High School in Zeo’s classroom during second and fourth periods. This occurred between the dates of the two meetings in the parking lot.
“About four to six times we had contact at the school,” he said.
Zeo’s attorney Marc Neff cross-examined the teen, asking him why he posted his year of birth as 1989 on his Facebook page instead of 1991. The teen said he did that so he would be able to make the Facebook page.
“You presented yourself as a 19-year-old?” Neff asked.
“Yes,” said the teen.
The teen further explained that Zeo knew he was 17, but he never told her that and made assumptions from e-mails they wrote to one another that she knew that.
Neff asked if any of the conversations between the teen and Zeo on Facebook were saved. The teen said they were not, and said he has not seen the conversations since he has been online.
The teen said it was two to three months between accepting Zeo’s friend request on Facebook and meeting up at the Target, and that they met up two to three days after telling her about his dream.
“You wanted to have sex with Mrs. Zeo,” Neff said.
“Yes,” said the teen.
“Is that why you went to the Target on 309?” Neff asked.
“She told me to meet her there,” the teen replied.
“Did you go with the intention of having sex with Mrs. Zeo?” Neff asked.
“Yes,” answered the teen.
The second youth said he knew Zeo for seven months and would see her every day in her classroom.
He said Zeo sent him a friend request on Facebook and they talked online for three days out of the week.
“Originally, it was friendly. About life and school, then it got flirtatious,” the teen said. “She would send me hearts and smiley faces. They became sexual conversations.”
He said they mutually agreed to meet outside of the school setting, but it never happened.
“She would bring up I was not 18 yet on Facebook,” he testified.
In a cross-examination, the teen said he indicated to Zeo he wanted to have sex with her. He said the conversations began in March, and that Zeo told him they couldn’t do anything until after he turned 18.
“About three times, to my recollection, she asked if I was under 18,” the teen testified.
When asked if he saved his conversations with Zeo, the teen said he destroyed them after he was called to the school office and notified of an investigation.
“Who told you to destroy the messages?” asked McGill.
“Mrs. Zeo did,” replied the boy.
Det. Rich Peffall, lieutenant of the major crimes unit for the Montgomery County Detectives Bureau, testified that during the initial interview of Zeo on May 15, he talked to her PSEA attorney briefly, telling him that Zeo made a statement and she was reviewing it.
Detectives then took a second statement from Zeo following her conversation with her attorney, Peffall said.
Prior to Borek’s decision, McGill explained that the endangering the welfare of a child is in the third degree because of Zeo’s course of conduct, and because she was reaching out to one of the victims and having sexual relations with him over a period of time.
“This was a calculated seduction,” McGill said. “The defendant preyed on these boys. She took advantage of their vulnerability and age.”
Later, during Zeo’s preliminary hearing before District Judge Harold Borek, another 17-year-old took the stand and quietly recounted the same Facebook flirtations and sexual conversations with Zeo, his math teacher at North Penn High School.
In the end, all charges against Zeo, a 36-year-old married mother of three from Warrington, were held over by Borek for a Sept. 2 county court arraignment.
Zeo will be tried for a third-degree felony count of endangering the welfare of a child and four misdemeanor counts of corruption of minors.
Assistant District Attorney Kate McGill said they became aware of new information at the hearing, and they would be looking into it.
There could be a potential tampering of evidence charge against Zeo in relation to a testimony of one of the victims, McGill said.
She said there is no mandatory or minimum term for the felony count.
“We will be asking for jail time,” McGill said.
If convicted, Zeo faces up to seven years in prison or a $15,000 fine for the endangerment charge, and up to five years in prison or a $10,000 fine for each corruption charge, according to Borek.
Every chair in the 24-seat courtroom was filled by police detectives, and classmates and family of the victims and Zeo, which included her husband, Phillip
Two members of Bikers Against Child Abuse of Montgomery County were there as well.
In his testimony, the first 17-year-old told the court how his relationship with Zeo started out as a student-teacher relationship, but then she added him on Facebook and they began talking as friends.
“One step led to another,” he said, “and it became a sexual relationship, a sexual affair.”
The relationship began in late April-early May, he said.
“It started by I had a dream and I asked her if she wanted to know about the dream,” he said. “I told her the dream had sexual detail and asked if she was sure. She said yes and that’s where it began.”
The youth testified that the conversation about his dream occurred online.
He said in late April, the two decided to meet up. They agreed to meet near the Target off Route 309 in the parking lot. He drove his mom’s car, he said, while Zeo met him in her van.
“I got out of my car, I got into her car, we went to the back seat and we fondled and kissed,” he said. “I went home, and then we talked about what happened and we planned on doing it again.”
He said they met again a week later at the same location. This time, when they got to her back seat, she brought out four condoms and gave him one. They then had sex.
“She did know my age,” he said. “She said once I turned 18 everything would be OK. I’d be a legal adult.”
He said they also fondled and kissed — but never had sex — at North Penn High School in Zeo’s classroom during second and fourth periods. This occurred between the dates of the two meetings in the parking lot.
“About four to six times we had contact at the school,” he said.
Zeo’s attorney Marc Neff cross-examined the teen, asking him why he posted his year of birth as 1989 on his Facebook page instead of 1991. The teen said he did that so he would be able to make the Facebook page.
“You presented yourself as a 19-year-old?” Neff asked.
“Yes,” said the teen.
The teen further explained that Zeo knew he was 17, but he never told her that and made assumptions from e-mails they wrote to one another that she knew that.
Neff asked if any of the conversations between the teen and Zeo on Facebook were saved. The teen said they were not, and said he has not seen the conversations since he has been online.
The teen said it was two to three months between accepting Zeo’s friend request on Facebook and meeting up at the Target, and that they met up two to three days after telling her about his dream.
“You wanted to have sex with Mrs. Zeo,” Neff said.
“Yes,” said the teen.
“Is that why you went to the Target on 309?” Neff asked.
“She told me to meet her there,” the teen replied.
“Did you go with the intention of having sex with Mrs. Zeo?” Neff asked.
“Yes,” answered the teen.
The second youth said he knew Zeo for seven months and would see her every day in her classroom.
He said Zeo sent him a friend request on Facebook and they talked online for three days out of the week.
“Originally, it was friendly. About life and school, then it got flirtatious,” the teen said. “She would send me hearts and smiley faces. They became sexual conversations.”
He said they mutually agreed to meet outside of the school setting, but it never happened.
“She would bring up I was not 18 yet on Facebook,” he testified.
In a cross-examination, the teen said he indicated to Zeo he wanted to have sex with her. He said the conversations began in March, and that Zeo told him they couldn’t do anything until after he turned 18.
“About three times, to my recollection, she asked if I was under 18,” the teen testified.
When asked if he saved his conversations with Zeo, the teen said he destroyed them after he was called to the school office and notified of an investigation.
“Who told you to destroy the messages?” asked McGill.
“Mrs. Zeo did,” replied the boy.
Det. Rich Peffall, lieutenant of the major crimes unit for the Montgomery County Detectives Bureau, testified that during the initial interview of Zeo on May 15, he talked to her PSEA attorney briefly, telling him that Zeo made a statement and she was reviewing it.
Detectives then took a second statement from Zeo following her conversation with her attorney, Peffall said.
Prior to Borek’s decision, McGill explained that the endangering the welfare of a child is in the third degree because of Zeo’s course of conduct, and because she was reaching out to one of the victims and having sexual relations with him over a period of time.
“This was a calculated seduction,” McGill said. “The defendant preyed on these boys. She took advantage of their vulnerability and age.”
Watch the video report from CNN below.
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