QUEENS, NEW YORK: A slew of sordid messages that a middle school teacher reportedly sent to a 14-year-old boy, whom she allegedly groomed and abused, have come to light in the wake of her arrest.
Melissa Rockensies, a 33-year-old teacher at Corona Arts and Sciences Academy, was arrested on Tuesday, August 22, and was later charged with rape, criminal sexual act, and acting in a manner injurious to a child less than 17 years old.
Rockensies, who has been moved from the school, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Her husband, William Rockensies, also flanked her innocence, claiming to the NY Post that “My wife is innocent. She’s the mother of three kids. She loves them very much.”
She’s been a big part of the community at her school. We all support her. We’re saying she’s innocent. I won’t elaborate any further why,” William continued. The pair got married in 2015 per Daily Mail.
Her husband was reportedly spotted with her as she left the courthouse on August 23 as they returned to their Massapequa home.
When did Melissa Rockensies allegedly begin grooming her victim?
The 14-year-old teen, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the NY Post that Rockensies began grooming him shortly after she started stepping in as an educator at his school the previous year.
The victim expressed that he felt like Rockensies had "taken advantage of him because of his age." He further claimed that they began communicating after he started emailing her over a problem with another kid at the school.
"I was vulnerable with her. I'm smart but I don't make good decisions. I work off of impulse. If someone says let's go do something I'd say all right let's go do it," he told the outlet.
He stated that the mother of three started contacting him on Instagram right afterward and sent him a flood of vile messages over the course of over a year.
“Oh and delete the chat okay love you byeeeeeeee,” Rockensies allegedly wrote to the victim. In another text, she wrote, "You're gonna be lucky once I put this kid to sleep."
"I want you so bad and now I gotta go read kids books like …wtf," the teacher wrote in one text. She also allegedly wrote to the boy, "Study up on your technique and I'll be moaning for you all day and all night daddyy" and "I wanna be able to kiss those lips of yours."
After exchanging hundreds of emails, Rockensies eventually suggested meeting up in person, the teen claimed. He revealed that once they went for a stroll in the park after she went to the supermarket, where she allegedly hugged him "really closely" before declaring her desire to "kiss him" and then following through with it.
"This came out of nowhere. I wasn't expecting it because she said she had a husband and stuff. I felt weird like I had to hug her back. I hugged her. I kissed her. That's how it started," he stated.
Where did Melissa Rockensies allegedly abuse the victim?
The teen claimed that the alleged sexual abuse persisted until late May or early June and usually occurred in her car before and after school.
"She'd tell me where to go to meet her, where the car is parked," he said, adding that she attempted to see him every day except Wednesday as "she had to watch the kids."
"Every time we'd meet up, we'd have sex," he revealed. The boy claimed that Rockensies also gave him money and bought him gifts, including nicotine devices. “Most of the time she [gave] me money,” he said.
Last month, the teacher claimed that the teenager had threatened to shoot her and her children if she didn't pay him $5,000.
The teen refuted Rockensies’ allegations, stating that someone else had been texting her from his account as he had been grounded from Instagram after skipping summer school.
The teenager said after the threats were reported, he went to the authorities and showed them their sexually explicit messages.
His grandmother told the New York Post that she was "disgusted by the abuse." "They are making him out to be the monster and he is not. The victim is my grandson," she said, noting that she planned on getting him into counseling.
