Ex-Medford Counselor Loses Appeal In Child Rape Case

MEDFORD, MA – The state appeals court has upheld the child rape conviction of a former Medford school counselor. Jenna Tarabelsi was convicted of two counts of child rape stemming from the sexual assault of a 15-year-old student in 2014.

Tarabelsi, who worked as a career counselor at Medford Vocational Technical High School from 2013-2015, befriended the 15-year-old boy when he sought advice about problems he was having with his then-girlfriend, according to court documents.

After communicating with the boy for about a month, Tarabelsi sexually assaulted him in a parking lot in Stoneham after school ended in January 2014, prosecutors said. The school suspended her after the allegations came to light in April 2015.

Tarabelsi was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison in 2017.

In her appeal, Tarabelsi challenged the judge's decision to admit in evidence text messages between her and two students, including the victim, other evidentiary rulings and the prosecutor's closing argument. Her attorneys argued she was framed by a group of students who falsified text messages implicating her in a crime.

The appeals court affirmed Tarabelsi's conviction, finding that the victim's testimony coupled with text messages presented at trial was sufficient evidence of their authenticity, that Tarabelsi could have sent messages from her iPhone despite turning her iPad in to the school for the summer and that the prosecutor did not misstate the evidence during closing arguments and was allowed to rebut the defense.

Previously: Waltham Woman Convicted On 2 Counts of Child Rape, Worked At Medford School