Melissa Rockensies Queens teacher escapes jail after sexually abusing 14 year old male student ongoing in plea deal. How a sexual predator groomed her victim.
What if the genders were reversed? A former Queens, NYC teacher escaped jail-time with a ‘sweet-heart’ deal despite conceding sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy.
Melissa Rockensies, 33, was all smiles as she left Queens court on Tuesday, as her plea deal will see her serve no jail time but will permanently hand over her teaching license.
Leading into her plea deal, the former educator had been previously charged in August of 2023 with r*pe, criminal sexual act and acting in a manner injurious to a child less than 17 years old.
⚠️Notice a Pattern ❔
Melissa Rockensies, age 33, a married mother of three and a teacher at Corona Arts and Sciences Academy in Queens New York, was arrested and charged the with rape, criminal sex acts and acting in a manner injurious to a child less than 17 years. #Firstthem pic.twitter.com/S3BuuOpk21— #FirstThem NEWS🇺🇸 (@FirstThemNEWS) August 28, 2023
The married mother-of-three as part of her punishment will also be ordered to complete a sexual predator program for two years the dailymail reports.
Rockensies, of Massapequa, had been the dean at Corona Arts & Science Academy, along with one of the victim’s summer school teachers and counselors.
Rockensies had been accused of grooming a young student at her school, barraging the boy with sexual messages while carrying out a year-long physical relationship with her victim, who she instructed to meet up with her for sex in her car.
Her teen victim, who has not been identified, previously told the New York Post that his ordeal with Rockensies began when she started working at his school in mid 2022.
Rockensies began her advances, he said, by sending him a number of lewd messages, with the boy saying he felt like Rockensies had ‘taken advantage of him because of his age.’
Initially, their communications started over email and were due to a problem with another student, and he said he felt ‘comfortable with her.’
‘I was vulnerable with her. I’m smart but I don’t make good decisions. I work off of impulse. If someone says let’s go do something I’d say all right let’s go do it,’ he said.
Over the course of the next year, he said their relationship escalated quickly, and she would send depraved messages in between taking care of her children.
In a text exchange obtained by the New York Post, the teen claimed Rockensies allegedly wrote: ‘You’re gonna be lucky once I put this kid to sleep.’
Another text included Rockensies allegedly writing: ‘I want you so bad and now I gotta go read kids books like… wtf’.
She also allegedly wrote to the boy: ‘Study up on your technique and I’ll be moaning for you all day and all night daddyy’ and ‘I wanna be able to kiss those lips of yours.’
The boy’s mother has since launched a lawsuit claiming this could have been quickly prevented by school officials, claiming signs of the abuse went undetected due to negligence according to the dailymail.
In September, after allegedly exchanging hundreds of emails, the pair began messaging on Instagram, with Rockensies eventually suggesting to meet up in person, the teen claimed.
She took the teen out for a walk in the park after she went to the supermarket, where she’s been accused of hugging the boy ‘really close’ and then asking to ‘kiss him.’
‘This came out of nowhere. I wasn’t expecting it because she said she has a husband and stuff. I felt weird like I had to hug her back. I hugged her. I kissed her. That’s how it started.’
The sexual abuse continued by Rockensies included ordering the teen to meet her in her car before or after school.
‘She’d tell me where to go to meet her, where the car is parked,’ he claimed and said that she tried to meet him every day except Wednesday, when ‘she had to watch the kids.’
‘Every time we’d meet up, we’d have sex,’ he claims adding that she would allegedly give him gifts like money and nicotine devices.
‘Most of the time she [gave] me money. The most she ever gave me was $500,’ he said.
In her lawsuit filed in January, the child’s mother said negligence by officials with the Department of Education allowed the abuse to continue undetected.
The lawsuit is seeking an undisclosed amount of damages, and aims to bring school officials to account for their failure to prevent it, the mother’s attorney Jonathan Cooper told Patch.
‘It’s really when we entrust our kids to the school, we would hope at a bare minimum that they wouldn’t be statutorily raped,’ he said. The age of consent in New York is 17.
‘These acts occurred regularly – about four times a week – inside the automobile of Ms. Rockensies in an area immediately adjacent to Corona Arts, including during school hours.’
In November 2023, the teacher claimed that the teen had been threatening to ‘extort’ her and accused him of saying that he’d ‘shoot her and her kids’ if she didn’t pay him $5,000.
The student denied these allegations, and said he had been banned from Instagram after skipping summer school and someone else had been messaging her from his account.
After Rockensies’ arrest her husband, William, defended the 33-year-old, with the simp man claiming his wife was ‘innocent’.
Speaking to the New York Post, her husband said: ‘My wife is innocent. She’s the mother of three kids. She loves them very much.
‘She’s been a big part of the community at her school. We all support her. We’re saying she’s innocent. I won’t elaborate any further why.’
Following a December hearing, District Attorney Melinda Katz said: ‘These disturbing allegations represent an abuse of authority and a betrayal of the trust students and parents place in their schools.
‘On behalf of the victim and his family, and the overwhelming majority of teachers committed to the education and well-being of our children, we will seek to achieve justice in this case.’
Rockensies was previously the dean of Leadership and Student Support at the middle school, and attended several of the education facilities events with parents and students.
The teacher reportedly earned around $85,000 last year, with a Department of Education spokeswoman confirming that Rockensies is no longer working at the school.
In a statement, they said: ‘This alleged behavior is extremely concerning and wholly unacceptable.
‘This employee has been reassigned away from the school and students pending the outcome of the arrest and if convicted, we will pursue termination.
‘Nothing is more important than the safety and well-being of our students.’
