Ex-teacher pleads guilty to child molestation

FORT WAYNE – A former religious education teacher at a Catholic parish has pleaded guilty to child molesting and other charges in assaults on three brothers and a fourth boy over several months.\nAs part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, Michelle VanMeter, 35, recently of South Bend, faces 30 years in prison when she is sentenced Feb. 8 in Allen Superior Court on two counts of child molesting and one count each of sexual misconduct with a minor and sexual battery.\nIf a judge accepts the agreement, three additional charges of child molesting and two charges of sexual misconduct with a minor would be dismissed at sentencing. She also would need to receive counseling.\nVanMeter, who formerly taught at St. Jude Catholic Parish in Fort Wayne, was arrested in September in connection with sexual encounters she had with a friend’s three sons from June 2006 to April 2007.\nOn Tuesday, she admitted in court to molesting a then-13-year-old boy, as well as having sexual contact with the boy’s two older siblings, one 15 and an older brother who is a deaf adult with mental disabilities. She pleaded guilty to one count of child molesting, one count of sexual misconduct with a minor and sexual battery.\nAfter VanMeter gave birth to a baby in June, a paternity test revealed with 99.9 percent certainty that the 15-year-old was the father, according to court documents.\nIn a second case, VanMeter pleaded guilty to a single count of child molesting involving another boy who was 12 at the time. The boy told investigators she molested him on seven or eight occasions when he was at her house, according to court documents.\nThe boys told investigators VanMeter would often invite them to her home and allow them to spend the night. She bought presents for them and took them roller skating, bowling and to play miniature golf.\nShe was being held Wednesday in the Allen County Jail.