Jan. 24--A teacher at a junior high school in Joliet has been charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse after she was accused of having sex with two former students from a school in Orland Park, authorities said Friday.
Cara Labus, 30, of Joliet, was charged with four counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving two victims between ages 14 and 16 and was ordered held on a $150,000 bond Friday, according to the Cook County state's attorney's office.
Prosecutors said Labus met the students while she was a teacher and basketball coach at Jerling Junior High School in Orland Park.
She kept in touch with the students after they graduated and allegedly engaged in various sex acts with the teens on several occasions between December 2008 and February 2011, according to prosecutors.
One of the victims filed a police report in December and the two former students told each other about the alleged abuse around the same time, according to a statement from the state's attorney's office.
Labus, who currently works at Hufford Junior High School in Joliet, was arrested by Orland Park police on Wednesday.
Officials at Joliet Public Schools District 86 could not immediately be reached for comment.
Orland School District 135 school board president Joe La Margo said the district had received a subpoena related to the case 10 days ago and had complied with it.
District 135 hired Labus to teach 6th grade math at Jerling in 2006, according to school board meeting minutes. La Margo said Labus left the district about five years ago and he said he was not aware of any complaints about her prior to the investigation.
At a bond hearing Friday she was placed on electronic home monitoring and is not allowed to have contact with either victim or anyone under 18 without supervision.
Labus' next court date is Feb. 23 at the Bridgeview courthouse, prosecutors said.
lzumbach@tribpub.com
Twitter @laurenzumbach
