Library assistant gets 6 years for sex with 3 teens

Laurie Augustine of Downers Grove pleaded guilty to aggravated criminal sexual abuse and criminal sexual assault for having sex with two 16-year-olds and a 17-year-old during a two-month period in 2002. Several of the encounters took place inside the Lombard school, where Augustine was hired in 1999.

DuPage County Judge Michael Burke gave Augustine one six-year sentence and an additional 40-month sentence, both set to start Aug. 6. Burke said Augustine will receive credit on the six-year sentence for the 333 days served since her arrest. Augustine will also have to register as a sex offender in compliance with state law.

After the sentencing, Michael O'Sullivan, father of one of the victims, read a statement written by his son, who was 16 at the time of his relationship with Augustine. The statement called the former library assistant a "wolf in sheep's clothing" whose abuse destroyed the young man's ability to trust people and briefly made him consider ending his life.

"I hate, hate, hate you for ruining my life," O'Sullivan read as Augustine stood by, showing little emotion.

But the tears started to flow outside the courtroom when Augustine, a mother of six, started talking about how hard it would be to leave her children, the youngest of whom is 11.

"How do you say goodbye? Parents shouldn't be separated from their kids," she said. "I would do anything to change what happened in the past."

Augustine said she thought her sentence was harsh because State's Attorney Joseph Birkett wanted to make an example of a woman.

Said Birkett, "The fact that the victims in this case were boys and the defendant was a woman is irrelevant. The law is clear."

Augustine had faced up to 15 years in prison.