![]() When a jilted girlfriend in October 2016 showed suspicious social media messages between Winfield and the boy to school officials - including Winfield’s reply of “cheater pants” when the then-12-year-old implied he had a male bodily fluid on his hands - Winfield resigned from her position at Thunder Bay Junior High School.ĭocuments obtained by The News in 2019 through Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act suggest APS had confirmed Winfield at least communicated inappropriately with a student and that she resigned from APS before the board could vote on whether to fire her.Īt the time, the alleged victim denied any assault by Winfield.Ī few months later, Winfield booked a flurry of hotel nights - eight in the space of three weeks, and as many in the three months following - at Alpena hotels. ![]() Taking the troubled student on as a special project, Winfield invited him on family vacations and gave him expensive gifts, eventually allowing him to stay at her home for days and weeks at a time.Īccording to Winfield, who testified this week, she developed an addiction to helping the boy and would not give up on him - even, she said, when an early affection for her turned violent and he began hitting her and her children, at one time allegedly holding a gun to Winfield’s head. ![]() Her accuser actually held the power in the relationship, Winfield’s attorneys countered, saying the boy abused and threatened his one-time teacher and sexually assaulted her when he was 13.Īs a sixth-grader with severe disciplinary struggles and a traumatic past, the student improved under Winfield’s instruction, by most accounts. Hayes will sentence Winfield at a date yet to be determined.ĭuring the trial, which spanned most of three weeks, the prosecution depicted Winfield as a predator who won the trust of the boy, his family, and the community to allow her to carry on a sexual relationship with him, beginning when he was 11. We hope that this verdict allows all parties to begin moving forward.”ĭuring jury deliberations, Judge Roy Hayes dismissed one charge, that of using a computer to commit a crime, determining it did not apply to Winfield’s case. As she testified, Heather made some mistakes and is owning them. ![]() “We’re very pleased with the result, and it proves the system works. “We want to thank the jury for paying close attention to the evidence,” Wojda said. Winfield maintained her innocence since the beginning of the investigation, defense attorney Matt Wojda said after the jury’s verdict, announced at about 6 p.m. ![]()
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