WABASH CO., Ill.—The sexual abuse case of a special ed teacher in Mt. Carmel is over.
Kirby J. Cheesman
Kirby Cheesman, 28, whose charge was only announced just two weeks ago, entered a plea in the case Monday, November 3, 2014, after the charge was filed October 23, 2014.
Apparently the whole thing coming to the point of an actual charge was kept under wraps, as Cheesman (who is a daughter-in-law of Mt. Carmel High School principal Pat Cheesman) is reported by some sources as having been off the job since early October, approximately two weeks before the charge of Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse was actually filed. Subsequently, this also gave Cheesman a chance to scrub any social media she might’ve had out there, which also might’ve contained the identity of the 16-year-old male student she was accused of fondling. The incident—of which it’s unclear as to whether there was one isolated incident or multiple ones—is alleged to have occurred between January 1 and September 1 of this year.
Monday, she was allowed to plead the Class 2 felony down to a Class 4 felony: Criminal Sexual Abuse when the victim is unable to give consent.
There is no sentencing agreement in exchange for the plea; however, since it’s a reduced felony, this will enable the state to provide that there could be the prospect of no prison time for Cheesman, and that she’ll be give a probationary period and will have to register as a sex offender. However, whether that’s for the rest of her life, or is for some other term, is unclear at this time and probably up to Judge Tom Tedeschi, who managed the case today.
This turn of events was no doubt facilitated by the county’s prosecutor, Cassandra Goldman, who has been super busy attempting to win the seat on the bench being vacated by Steve Sawyer. While many believed that Goldman would prevail (and an equal number believing that she was literally abandoning her office and not doing much by way of charging individuals while she campaigned heavily), she did not, and lost the race for the judgeship to challenger Will Hudson, who will be seated in a month.
Wabash County has two more years of Goldman as a result; whether a challenger will arise at that time remains to be seen, but many are now saying that Goldman has sealed her fate by not going after the tough cases with enough concern, and is showing preferential treatment to those with certain names or positions in the county.
Cheesman is scheduled for sentencing on December 15.