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Carol Lynn Flannigan
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Before
After 
Uh oh
Sex Offender
Shot
Teacher makes bail; sex probe is still on;
Teacher accused of sex with a former student is on
house arrest while police investigate additional allegations;
By ROCHELLE BRENNER AND PAMELA PEREZ, Palm Beach Post
The Boynton Beach music teacher accused of having sex with an
11-year-old former student was granted $30,000 bail Thursday and
placed under house arrest while she awaits trial.
Carol Lynn Flannigan, 49, was arrested by the Palm Beach County
Sheriff's Office Wednesday and charged with capital sexual battery on
a child under 12 in connection with the alleged 19- month affair.
A new police probe could net more charges. Boca Raton police said
Thursday they are reinvestigating allegations that she kissed the same
boy romantically in 2002.
"'Now, with this new evidence, all parties will be interviewed to see
if there is any new evidence in the case,"' said Officer Jeff Kelly,
Boca Raton police spokesman.
Flannigan befriended the boy's family and invited him and his two
brothers to her house for sleepovers, authorities said. She had sex
with the victim at her home, a Lake Worth park and a Lantana airport
parking lot, officials said.
The alleged affair was revealed when the now 13-year-old's stepmother
found text messages on his cellphone.
"'We trusted her like a family member,"' said the boy's father outside
the courtroom for Flannigan's first appearance Thursday. "That's why I
never thought something like this would happen."
He said he had hoped the judge would side with prosecutors who asked
for no bail. But Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Sheree Cunningham
allowed Flannigan's release on the conditions she remain under house
arrest at her parents' home and have no contact with children or the
victim's family, but she is allowed to have supervised visits with her
16-year-old autistic son. She was also barred from using the computer.
Sitting together in one row at the courtroom were Flannigan's
supporters: her husband, parents, sister, brother-in-law and several
neighbors. They didn't comment, but one woman gasped and began to cry
quietly after catching a glimpse of Flannigan walking in a blue
jail-issued uniform before the hearing.
Flannigan's lawyer, Kenneth Ronan, told reporters that she will plead
not guilty, citing the first investigation conducted by Boca Raton
police and the state Department of Children & Families, when
allegations that Flannigan and the boy kissed were ruled out as
"unfounded."
Inappropriate behavior was brought to the attention of investigators
by a therapist of Flannigan's husband, Douglas DePue, who filed for
divorce in 2002. "'Back then DCF just had the husband's hunch,"' Kelly
said.
DCF officials are prohibited by law from commenting on specific cases.
But Alan Abramowitz, deputy district administrator for DCF in Palm
Beach County, said families have differing standards for appropriate
contact and a kiss is not always sexual.
The boy told investigators he did not feel uncomfortable. But
Flannigan's arrest report alleges the two already had sex at the time
of the first investigation.
"'If everyone were to deny it, you really have no evidence to go
forward," Abramowitz said. He said cases with female abusers and male
victims are among the hardest to investigate because it is nearly
impossible to find physical proof that a male victim had sex.
The evidence that led to her arrest this week includes the text
messages and a phone call the boy made to Flannigan that was monitored
by police. Authorities alleged that in that conversation, she
apologized, urged the boy to keep lying about their relationship,
offered him $1,000 and said that revealing the truth would ruin her
life.
She is on paid leave from her job as a music teacher at Rolling Green
Elementary School, where she first met the boy in her music class.
Principal Gay Voss sent a generic letter to parents, translated into
Spanish and Creole, alerting them that a teacher had been arrested and
that the charges involve ''inappropriate behavior'' with a student.
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