Teacher gets year of probation for stalking student's mom

Wakefield, MA resident Christopher Cieto, a former Hollis/Brookline high school teacher, was sentenced to a year on probation for stalking a student's mother. Cieto resigned from his position as an English teacher September 11, three days after he was placed on administrative leave and four days before he was formally charged with two counts of misdemeanor stalking and a count of obscenity.

Police began investigating June 24, after a Hollis woman reported that she was receiving harassing e-mails, one of which included a photograph of a naked and sexually aroused black male, from the waist down.

The woman told police she began getting e-mail messages in April from someone who identified himself as "Robert Reddick," and claimed to be keeping an "eye" on her, Mello wrote in his application for the warrant. After an initial batch of messages, the woman heard nothing more until June, when she received more e-mails from someone purporting to be "Chris Sheridan." Some of the e-mails included photographs of a young man, and one e-mail stated, "I think you just need to have some fun. If you need to escape, just let me know."

Police charge that Cieto used his position as a teacher to learn the woman's e-mail address, though he never had any sort of personal relationship with her. The woman didn't know Cieto, but recognized his real name, as her daughter had been in one of his classes, Mello wrote.

Cieto was sentenced to a year in jail, suspended, and required to undergo evaluation and treatment as a sex offender.