By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-21 21:51:53 | Updated at 2025-01-24 08:27:25
2 days ago
A New Jersey elementary school teacher who was charged with sexually abusing a 13-year-old former student and getting pregnant by him threw a baby shower for herself to celebrate — but told her friends that the baby’s father was “out of the picture,” according to a friend.
Authorities say that the dad was actually living under Laura Caron’s roof — and was barely a teenager at the time of the conception.
Caron, now 34, was arrested on Jan. 15 and charged with aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
On Tuesday, a judge released Caron from jail after ruling she was not a flight risk.
Caron was a fifth-grade teacher at Middle Township Elementary School Number 2 in southern New Jersey when she got pregnant. She was in her late 20s when she gave birth in 2019.
“She had a baby shower. She was happy about it,” said her friend Darlene Dowless.
“But she didn’t identify who the father was, at least not to me. She just said that he wouldn’t be involved and was out of the picture.”
Caron got hundreds of dollars in gifts from friends for the new baby at the shower, Dowless said.
The infant’s paternity remained a mystery until the teen’s father — the baby’s grandfather — pointed out the uncanny similarity between Caron’s child, himself and his son on a Facebook post in December 2024.
Authorities soon began to investigate and alleged that the boy was actually the father.
Caron first met her alleged victim when she taught him in elementary school.
The boy’s family remained close with Caron, even after she was no longer his teacher. His parents allegedly allowed their two sons and daughter to sleep over at Caron’s house a couple nights a week. The three siblings even lived permanently with Caron between 2016 and 2020, sharing a bedroom.
But authorities say that the relationship soon became sexual between Caron and the boy, who was born in 2005.
The boy’s sister told prosecutors that she remembered going to sleep with her brother in the same room, but woke up to find him sleeping in Caron’s bed. She claimed Caron began sleeping with her brother when he was 11 years old, according to authorities.
Investigators also said that the teen’s brother had once witnessed Caron sexually assaulting the alleged victim while he was sleeping.
The unidentified boy, who is now between 19 and 20 years old, told investigators he had a sexual relationship with Caron and that he fathered his former teacher’s child, according to authorities.The two had remained in contact until his father made the December Facebook post.
News of the alleged assault has sent shock waves around the community.
“I don’t think that was on anyone’s bingo card for her,” a former colleague tells the Post. “We all just assumed she had a boyfriend. An adult boyfriend. Not a kid.”
Caron’s attorney, John Tumelty, did not immediately respond to the Post’s message for comment.
