Crime & Safety
Ex-Frankfort Teacher Sentenced For Sexually Abusing Former Student
Ex-Summit Hill Junior High teacher Jack Mecher will spend 180 days in jail.
FRANKFORT, IL — A former Summit Hill District 161 teacher has been sentenced to 180 days in jail after 2020 charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
Jack Mecher, 53, of Frankfort, was investigated and charged in October 2020 after an inappropriate relationship with a former student.
Several original charges were dropped, including indecent solicitation of a child, aggravated battery, criminal sexual assault and grooming.
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Mecher pleaded guilty to the charge of aggravated criminal sexual abuse on Nov. 30, 2022, according to court documents.
On Sept. 9, 2020, Will County Sheriff's detectives met with a woman who reported her child was having an inappropriate sexting relationship with her former seventh-grade teacher. The woman told police that it was Mecher, a teacher at Summit Hill Junior High School in Frankfort, authorities said.
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The woman told police that her child told her about the relationship the day before, according to the sheriff's office. The child said Mecher had been having an inappropriate relationship with her at Summit Hill Junior High School, in Mecher's classroom, police said at the time.
In 20202, the sheriff's office said that detectives began to investigate the allegations, and a forensic interviewer at the Will County Child Advocacy Center later interviewed the child.
In addition to 180 days in jail, Mecher was also sentenced to a "sex offender specific probation" for 30 months. As part of the probation, he cannot violate any local ordinance or criminal statute, he must notify the probation officer of any change of address and cannot leave the state without consent of the court.
He also cannot have any contact with children, or go to any school yards, parks, playgrounds, arcades or other places primarily used by children, unless approved by a probation officer, according to sentencing documents.
Mecher must also perform 150 hours of community service and cannot have unsupervised contact with any female under 18, according to court documents.
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