A southwest suburban junior high school teacher and basketball coach has been charged for allegedly sexually abusing two students.

Cara Labus, 30, allegedly sexually abused a 14-year-old and 16-year-old over the course of two years, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez reported.

Labus met the teens while employed at Jerling Junior High School in Orland Park. She then began to engage in various sex acts with both students continually from the years of 2008 to 2011, according to prosecutors.

After the victims graduated – who were 14 and 16 years old at the time the abuse began – Labus continued to pursue a relationship and engage in sexual activity with them, prosecutors claim.

The pattern of abuse was not discovered until the summer of 2014 when one victim told a friend, prosecutors said. The same victim filed a police report in December 2014.

Police said the other victim soon after confronted the first victim regarding their shared experiences.

In a Friday court hearing Cook County Judge Kerry Kennedy ordered Labus to wear an electronic home monitoring system until her sentencing.

Until then she is prohibited from having unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18, police said.

Labus is currently employed at Hufford Junior High School in Joliet. She was arrested by Orland Park Police Jan. 21. She is charged with four counts of Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse.

A spokesperson for Joliet Public Schools told NBC Chicago Labus has been suspended from her position and will not be permitted back to the school "indefinitely."



Labus' bond is set at $150,000. Her next court date is Feb 23.