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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA former tutor at a northwest Indiana elementary school has been sentenced to 42 years in prison for molesting a boy over several years, starting when he was 10.
A Tippecanoe County judge suspended five years of Jennifer Holmgren’s 42-year sentence during Monday’s hearing. She must serve five years of supervised probation and register as a sex offender for life following her release from prison.
A jury had convicted Holmgren in May on two counts of child molesting and one count of inappropriate communication with a child, the Journal & Courier reported.
Holmgren, 42, was a teacher’s aide at Klondike Elementary School in West Lafayette when she met a fourth-grade boy, whom she tutored along with his sister. The boy, who was 10 when Holmgren began molesting him, was 14 when her sexual assaults came to light in November 2019.
Prosecutors said Holmgren eventually began running errands for the boy’s immigrant family, who spoke little English.
“Miss Holmgren was in a position of trust with this family and this young boy. You worked your way into that family,” Judge Steve Meyer said at Monday’s hearing.
The judge said the 35-year prison sentence Holmgren received will help distance her victim from the assaults and possibly help the boy heal.
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