SPRINGFIELD – When a probation officer on Friday made a spot check of the apartment of Lisa Lavoie -- the former Holyoke middle school teacher on probation for having sex with a 15-year-old student in 2009 -- the officer found the now 18-year-old man hiding in Lavoie's closet.

One of the conditions of Lavoie’s probation when she pleaded guilty in early 2011 to statutory rape from the 2009 allegation was to have no contact with the boy or his family.

So Lavoie, 26, was arrested for violating probation and brought into Hampden Superior Court Monday in handcuffs.

Defense lawyer David P. Hoose said the victim in the original case showed up at her apartment saying he had no place to go and had no place to live.



He said given Lavoie's psychological makeup and struggles with alcohol, the victim's pleading with her fell "on someone who will listen."

Judge Richard J. Carey set her bail at $25,000 cash or $250,000 surety, the amount requested by Assistant District Attorney Patrick S. Sabbs and Probation Officer Kevin Horne.



Hoose asked that Lavoie be allowed to live with her mother with electronic monitoring until her probation period is over.



He said that when the victim showed up at her apartment Lavoie should have called police and the Probation Department.



"That's easier said than done," Hoose said of Lavoie.



Hoose said the 18-year-old man, now an adult, seems to believe the court should not interfere with him pursing a relationship with Lavoie.



When Hampden Superior Court Judge Cornelius J. Moriarty sentence Lavoie to five years probation in January 2011 after she pleaded guilty to three counts of statutory rape and one of enticement of a child, he kept personal jurisdiction of the case.



That means the probation violation case will proceed in front of Moriarty.



When Moriarty sentenced her to probation he said he didn't believe Lavoie was "a sexual predator likely to reoffend."



At the sentencing on the statutory rape, Sabbs had asked Moriarty to sentence her to 3 to 5 years in state prison. He said the victim's mother agreed with the sentencing request.

Moriarty attached 10 conditions to Lavoie's probation, including having no contact with the young man or his immediate family. If the young man contacted her, Lavoie was to report it to the Probation Department immediately.



Another condition of probation was to remain drug and alcohol free and complete an intensive alcohol rehabilitation program with aftercare.



Lavoie was a teacher at the Maurice Donohue Elementary School when she ran off with the 15-year-old male student in February 2009.

After a multi-state search that involved the FBI and U.S. Border Patrol, Lavoie was found with the boy in a motel room in West Virginia on Feb. 23, 2009.