By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
CENTREVILLE — A prison sentence was handed down Friday to a former food service worker at Mendon Junior/Senior High School accused of sexually assaulting minors.
Kaitlyn Sand was sentenced by Judge Paul Stutesman in St. Joseph County 45th Circuit Court to five to 15 years in prison on two charges of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. She will be credited for 48 days of time served, and was assessed mandatory fines and costs.
According to the St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s Office, the minimum sentence of five years was within the advisory sentencing guideline range of 51-85 months in the case. The Prosecutor’s Office added that Sand will be eligible for parole consideration after five years.
The 34-year-old Three Rivers woman was arrested back in September after an investigation into allegations that she sexually assaulted two minor victims between February and April 2023 while she was a contracted employee in food services at Mendon Junior/Senior High School, a position she held up until her termination in March 2023. According to investigators, she met the victims through the school, and had reportedly used various social media platforms to “repeatedly” contact the victims.
Sand posted bond a couple days after her arrest. She pled no contest to the third-degree counts in December, which stemmed from incidents that occurred in Three Rivers. Several other counts, including first-degree, second-degree and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, were dropped as part of a plea agreement.
During Friday’s sentencing, Sand’s lawyer, Justin Workman, said the court should consider “circumstances” in the case, as well as the “character of the defendant” when handing down the sentence. Sand herself spoke to the court for the first time, saying while “sorry will never be enough,” she apologized to the victims in the case.
“I’m incredibly sorry for the pain and embarrassment I’ve caused him and his family. I pray he can move on and heal from this. I hope I can be forgiven one day. I never meant to hurt him or anyone else affected by my actions,” Sand said. “I’m not a predator nor a monster nor a villain, like I’ve been portrayed as; I’m just a human who made a horrible mistake and let the situation get completely out of control. I’ve punched myself mentally and emotionally every day over this, but I understand and acknowledge I deserve the consequences that my actions warrant.”
Sand, in her statement, apologized to her daughters as well for “putting them through this,” adding that “my daughters will be punished, but I know it’s my fault.”
Assistant Prosecutor Gary Gabry said the situation is “tragic,” adding, “The tragedy is a result of her actions, what she’s done to her own daughters, and what she’s done to these young men and to their families.” However, he said the recommendations for the sentence, thanks in part to the plea agreement, were fair.
“We score the guidelines based on all the factors, and I’m not asking the court to go beyond the guidelines. We’ve done that by offering an opportunity to get this case resolved, allow the families of the young men and the young men themselves to put this behind them and to get on recovery and the treatment they’re going to need, and to give this young lady an opportunity to go away, think about what she’s done, and once she comes out, hopefully she can be the kind of parent I would think she wants to be,” Gabry said. “I can only think that if the tables were turned, and if it was a male teacher or an employee of the school that was doing this to her daughters, the outrage she would feel. Therefore, I think we have to look at this as the crime that it is.”
He also stated the case is an example of how CSC cases “really do cut both ways.”
“How many times have we been in front of the court where there’s a man that’s abused a young girl, and we’ve heard the young girl had trauma, what she’s been through, how it affected her academics, and how it affected her life. Years ago, when this stuff started coming out more and more, a lot of people were going, ‘oh geez, it’s the boys and a girl, and that’s a rite of passage.’ Well, we’ve seen it isn’t. It is a passage, but it’s a passage down into a downward spiral for these two young men,” Gabry said.
Gabry then spoke about the impact the case has had on the Mendon community and school system, saying it was one of the “most concerning” things he read in the pre-sentencing report, given the close-knit nature of the village. He concluded by saying, “I feel bad for her daughters, and I feel bad for their sons, and I do think the recommendation is justified.”
Prior to Gabry’s statement, the father of one of Sand’s victims made an impact statement to the court, telling Stutesman the situation has caused “psychological and emotional damage which will last our child a lifetime and impact all future relationships.”
“A stolen youth resulted in a steep decline in academics, athletics, and led to very destructive behavior. This destructive behavior extended the trauma to our entire family,” the father said. “Estrangement and emotions not understood come into context as the facts have been revealed. Love and support is needed as we process the healing necessary to overcome these exploitations.”
Stutesman read through most of the pre-sentence report, which he said Sand cooperated with, prior to his final statements. It noted that Sand “knew her actions were wrong and illegal,” and that she allegedly engaged in sex acts with three students and was charged for acts with two of them. The report stated Sand has no prior convictions, as well as mentioned her upbringing, which Sand reportedly said included being “sexually victimized” as a youth herself, with no other details; Stutesman said that “continues the cycle of abuse.”
Following the report, Stutesman addressed Sand, beginning by referencing her earlier statement to the court during the hearing.
“You said you want everyone to know you’re not a predator. You’re a predator. You’re sitting there, you’ve been convicted as a predator. You’re also the victim of being a child sexual predator, which I wish that was unique, but as I say, it’s like being a werewolf: You get bit by a werewolf, you become a werewolf,” Stutesman said. “It’s not, you were just a victim of circumstance that these boys used you, you used them for whatever reason.”
Stutesman continued, advising Sand to think about “what you’ve done to your family, friends, children, the community.” He said he does factor in Sand was a victim of a childhood sexual abuse, saying she hopes she gets those issues addressed related to that. He concluded by saying he was happy that Sand admitted she put herself in the position she was in.
“I want to stress to you, you recognize you’re the one that did this, you’re the one that’ll be responsible for this,” Stutesman said. “When we take into account what it could’ve been, the CSC firsts and all the other counts, it could’ve been consecutive, this is a heck of a break you got. I think this reflects this is your first criminal offense, and I’ll take that into consideration.”
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
