“Mary was like a teacher and mentor to me,” T.C. said. “Like a teacher, she would correct my grammar. She would take me to movies, to plays, to the beach, to concerts, libraries and art galleries … like she was educating me about these things. Then, one night when I was staying at her home, she began teaching me about sex. She told me, ‘If you ever tell anyone about this, I’ll be in big trouble and we’ll never be able to see each other again.’ ”

As the relationship progressed, T.C. said Boblak frequently invited her to stay on weekends in her apartment, where they would sleep together. She said the teacher – with the permission of T.C.'s parents – would take her on camping trips and other vacations, sometimes for weeks at a time.

Why did the parents allow her to spend so much time with a schoolteacher?

T.C. said her parents had met Boblak and came to trust her as a mentor and family friend. She added that these incidents took place in the 1970s, when parents were not as aware as they are today about the dangers of child molesters.

“My mother did ask me once if anything unusual was going on,” the alleged victim said. “I told her there was nothing wrong. I told my mom I didn’t even know what she was asking about.”