Florence kindergarten teacher pleads guilty in minor sex case

Queen Creek resident Angela Csader, 25, will be sentenced on April 28 after entering the plea this week. Both charges of sexual conduct with a minor carry a maximum sentence of 1.5 years in prison. She would also be required to register as a sex offender.

Csader taught at the Florence district for about a year after police began investigating her for liaisons with a Gilbert boy whose family hired her to tutor their younger son, who is autistic. Reports show she began having sex with the boy in August 2006. Detectives spent a year gathering evidence and conducting interviews.

Police forwarded their investigation reports to prosecutors, who filed charges in October. She made her first court appearance in December and was formally booked.

The boy and his parents did not wish to press charges, a decision that delayed the arrest and booking process.

She continued to teach at Anthem Elementary school until late January. The Arizona Department of Public Safety suspended her fingerprint clearance card Jan. 8 because of the arrest and charges and informed the Department of Education on Jan. 14, which in turn notified the school on Jan. 30. She resigned the following day.

State law requires teachers to have a DPS clearance, but Csader’s case highlighted a gap in the process that a lawmaker is now trying to fill.

Rep. Bob Robson, R-Chandler, proposed a state law last month to close gaps in the state’s notification system. The bill, HB2042, passed the House of Representatives unanimously and is now moving through the Senate.

The bill requires DPS to regularly provide each school district with a list of fingerprint card holders who have been arrested or convicted.

It also would make educators who don’t immediately report their arrests to their schools guilty of unprofessional conduct, a punishment that calls for dismissal and exclusion from future employment in other school districts.