A former fifth-grade teacher in northwestern Indiana who was charged with felony intimidation after authorities say she told a student she had a “kill list” of students and staff has been sentenced to 2½ years on probation.
Angelica Carrasquillo, 25, of Griffith pleaded guilty Friday to an intimidation charge in Lake County Superior Court, court records show.
The terms of a plea bargain bar Carrasquillo from working at a school or daycare while on probation. It also requires court-monitored mental health treatment, and she is barred from contacting victims in the case, news outlets reported.
If she successfully completes probation, she can petition to reduce the conviction to a misdemeanor, under terms of the plea bargain.
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
Court documents say Carrasquillo communicated “a threat to commit murder” on Oct. 12.
Once officials at the school where she was employed, St. Stanislaus in East Chicago, learned of the threat, they immediately confronted her and escorted her from the building, the Diocese of Gary said in a message to parents.
When Carrasquillo was asked why she wanted to kill herself and others, she reportedly told school officials: “I’m having trouble with my mental health, and sometimes the kids do not listen in the classroom. I also have trauma caused when I went to high school.”
U.S. & World
The threats came to light when a counselor overhead a fifth-grader say, “I heard Ms. Carrasquillo wants to kill herself and has a list.”
The student reportedly said Carrasquillo voiced the threat to him directly and told the student he was on the list.
The principal and an assistant principal said Carrasquillo gave them the name of one student on the “kill list,” but she did not reveal all the names, a court document said.
Carrasquillo allegedly told school officials “she was only joking about it all,” the court document said.
