Ex-Illinois Teacher Of The Year Pleads Guilty In 1970s Sex Abuse Case

An Illinois Teacher of the Year in 1990s who taught at Rolling Meadows High School pleaded guilty Friday as part of a deal with prosecutors that avoids him serving any jail time for sexually abusing a visiting student at an East Coast prep school he worked at in the 1970s. As part of the agreement, Arthur Peekel, 75, of Palatine, was given a year suspended sentence and fined $1,200 by a Rockingham County judge in New Hampshire, the Chicago Tribune reports. He also must register as a sex offender for the next 10 years, the report added.

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Peekel turned himself in last May after allegations concerning a 1973 incident when Peekel was an admissions officer at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, NH. Charges against Peekel came after a Boston Globe investigative report into sexual abuse at the academy. In the report, a former prospective student who was 14 at the time accused Peekel of fondling him during an overnight on-campus visit in the fall of 1973.

At the time of the abuse, Peekel denied the allegations when questioned by school officials. He took a leave of absence that same year before resigning from Exeter in 1974 to care for his sick mother in Illinois, according to the Globe report.

RELATED: Ex-Rolling Meadows Teacher From Palatine Charged in '70s Sex Assault Case

During the sentencing, Superior Court Judge N. William Delker said he hoped Peekel's punishment would send a message that time wouldn't forever obscure these types of crimes, the Tribune reports. The victim said after Friday's proceedings that the guilty plea and sentencing have given him validation and closure, the report added.

"I agreed to the plea terms," the victim said, according to the Tribune. "I think the judge was right. No months in jail really makes a difference at this point in time. It's his reputation."

RELATED: Ex-State Teacher Of The Year Pleads Not Guilty In Sexual Assault Case From 1970s

Peekel — 1959 graduate of Palatine High School — was a social studies teacher at Rolling Meadows High School from 1986 until he retired in 2004. He was named Teacher of Year by the Illinois Board of Education for the 1991-92 school year. Last year, Rolling Meadows officials told the Tribune they weren't aware of the prospective student's accusations from the '70s and that no reports of abuse had been leveled against Peekel during his 18 years at the high school.

Normally, the statute of limitations would have expired in a case of this length, but those restrictions were suspended when Peekel moved out of state after the alleged incidents occurred, police said.

More via the Chicago Tribune

Arthur Peekel, 75 (photo via Patch archive)

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