Former Elizabethtown School District employee sentenced to prison for sexually abusing two teenagers | Local news

A former Elizabethtown Area Middle School employee will spend eight to 16 years in state prison in 2023 for sexually abusing two middle school students.

In February, Megan Carlisle pleaded guilty to two counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, two counts of sexual assault and 12 related charges related to her sexual contact with two middle school students. She is also charged with two counts of institutional sexual assault.

Carlisle, who worked as a substitute teacher and expulsion officer at Elizabethtown Area Middle School until May 2023, performed sexual acts on the 14- and 15-year-old boys and bought them gifts, including e-cigarettes and an aquarium.

The boys and their families were not present at Carlisle’s sentencing on Monday so that their family could speak at length about the circumstances that led to the abuse.

In the absence of the victims, Assistant District Attorney Fritz Haverstick reminded the court of the seriousness of Carlisle’s crimes.

“If this was a male teacher harassing two female students, we would call him a sex offender,” Haverstick said. “There is no difference whether a male teacher does this or a female teacher does this.”

According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 96% of perpetrators of child sexual abuse are male.

Haverstick said he does not believe Carlisle feels remorse for her actions, citing her plea without rebuttal to institutional sexual assault in February.

A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is considered a conviction. Carlisle acknowledged that the prosecution had enough evidence to convict her at trial.

Carlisle’s “break”

Defense attorney Chris Sarno painted a picture of Carlisle’s life as one destroyed by drug use and abuse.

Carlisle’s mother abused drugs during her pregnancy. Sarno added that Carlisle was frequently physically and sexually abused as a child.

The effects of Carlisle’s difficult childhood continued into her first marriage, in which she was abusive, Sarno said. But after she met her second husband, Chris Carlisle, and had two daughters, Carlisle tried to turn her life around.

In 2021, Carlisle’s youngest daughter was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.

A few months later, Carlisle was confined to a hospital room while her daughter underwent radiation therapy for her illness. With the COVID-19 pandemic in full swing, Carlisle avoided human contact for weeks for fear of putting her immunocompromised daughter at risk.

The stress of her daughter’s illness and the isolation caused by radiation treatment caused her, as Sarno put it, to “break down.”

“Fortunately, her daughter recovered, but Megan did not,” Sarno said.

Carlisle fell into alcohol and drug abuse to cope with post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety, Sarno said. When friends encouraged her to get a job to keep herself busy, she took a position at Elizabethtown Area Middle School.

Carlisle’s mental health and addictions have turned her into someone she no longer recognizes.

“She looks back and doesn’t understand who that person was,” Sarno said, insisting that Carlisle felt remorse for the treatment she received after her arrest.

“You have disappointed them”

Carlisle’s two daughters and her ex-husband spoke at Monday’s hearing, calling her a role model and saying she calls them every day from prison.

Chris emphasized his ex-wife’s long-standing desire to give her daughters the happy childhood that she herself had been denied.

“Megan became the mother she wanted,” Chris said.

For years, Carlisle coached her children’s cheerleading, chaired her school’s parent-teacher council, hosted an annual book fair and was a troop leader in the Girl Scouts, Chris says.

Chris described how his ex-wife wanted to help so-called “problem teenagers” and that she was convinced that she had taken the job in Elizabethtown with “the best of intentions.”

Chris urged Lancaster County Judge Dennis Reinaker not to separate Carlisle from her daughters, making it clear that therapy would benefit her more than prison time.

In her testimony before Reinaker, Carlisle’s voice described how she slept an average of two hours a night and became increasingly addicted to drugs in the months leading up to her employment at the middle school.

She admitted that the online course that qualified her to work at the school did not prepare her to care for children with their own trauma, especially because she herself had not yet come to terms with her own childhood and was struggling with numerous mental health issues.

“It never occurred to me that surviving and processing are not the same thing,” Carlisle said.

Despite the absence of the victims and their families, Carlisle apologized to them and promised Reinaker that he would never see her on the “wrong side” of the court again.

Reinaker highlighted the support Carlisle has received, including letters from three Lancaster County jail officials. He said defendants rarely receive even a single letter from a jail official.

While he acknowledged that Carlisle had difficulties, he said these were no excuse for her behavior.

“You were in a position of responsibility for these children. You failed them,” Reinaker said. “Children should go to school and be safe.”