James R. Zaborowski, of Cable, reached a plea agreement with prosecutors in which he admitted to a single count of attempted tampering with evidence. In return, Zaborowski surrendered his five-year professional teaching license and his three-year pupil activity supervisor permit.
The case began in 2009, when Zaborowski was accused of having inappropriate contact with a teenage student via email, although police point out Zaborowski did not have physical contact with the student.
Authorities later searched Zaborowski’s laptop, and found sexually oriented images involving minors.
He told them his emails to the student were accidental and were a poor choice of words. But Champaign County Common Pleas Court Judge Roger Wilson disagreed, saying “I don’t believe for one minute this is a case of a mistake or misunderstanding.”
Richard Mayhall, Zaborowski’s attorney, said while prosecutors portrayed Zaborowski as a predator, his job put him in a position where he was often dealing with troubled students. Mayhall added Zaborowski had no previous criminal record and a good reputation before the investigation.
But Nick Selvaggio, Champaign County prosecutor, said Zaborowski constantly tested the limits of appropriate conduct and "knew exactly what he was doing.”
Zaborowski was initially indicted on more than 30 criminal charges. But the court decided to split the case into two separate trials earlier this year, and prosecutors were not able to use key pieces of evidence that Selvaggio said would show the full scope of Zaborowski’s conduct.
Along with three months probation, Wilson ordered Zaborowski to pay a $500 fine and court costs. He was also ordered to perform 120 hours of community service, avoid Urbana High School and stay off the Internet for six months.
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