MESSAGE FROM PROSECUTOR SHERRI BEVAN WALSH

Contact:  April Wiesner

(330) 643-8386

Tap Dancing Teacher Guilty of Sexual Conduct with Student

(January 27, 2012… Akron) … Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh announced today that a jury found Kimberly Sauto, 34, of Bayberry Lane in North Ridgeville, guilty of one count of Unlawful Sexual Conduct with a Minor, a third-degree felony.

Sauto, a married tap dancing instructor, had a sexual relationship with one of her 15-year-old male students. Sauto’s husband reported the relationship to the Sagamore Hills Police Department after finding condoms in his wife’s dance bag and text messages between her and the victim on her phone. While the case was pending, prosecutors discovered a series of love letters Sauto wrote to the victim, corroborating his allegations. Sauto then admitted on the witness stand that she loved the victim.

Judge Judith Hunter will sentence Sauto on March 6 at 2:15 p.m. Sauto faces up to five years in prison.

-30-