Indeed, in 2012, we published a roundup of five teacher-student sex allegations in Colorado, featuring the cases of Alexandra McLean, Courtney Bowles, Oscar Ponce, Zachary Meints and Tera Rawlings.
Nonetheless, the actions of Greeley's Katerina Bardos remain absolutely jaw-dropping.
Bardos has now been sentenced following guilty pleas related to felony child abuse and a criminal attempt to commit sexual assault on a child — a boy with whom she began a relationship when he was twelve.
Prosecutors say the two had sex forty to fifty times — and she reportedly supplied him with marijuana, too.
From August 2013 until May 2014, Bardos was a teacher at Greeley's Brentwood Middle School.
Her contract there wasn't renewed, and she was subsequently hired as a fourth grade teacher at Frontier Academy.
A September 2014 Frontier Academy newsletter featuring Bardos remains online at this writing.
It includes this photo....
...and this upbeat bio:
My name is Katerina Bardos and I was given the opportunity to be part of the 4th grade team this year at Frontier Academy. I completed my student teaching in the 4th grade at Frontier while going to the University of Northern Colorado so I wouldn’t say I am a “new” face to the building. Being back at Frontier has been a blessing and I have truly enjoyed the last couple of weeks working with my team and the school. This is my second year teaching; I completed my first year at Brentwood Middle School here in Greeley teaching 6th grade language arts, social studies and math intervention. I was also the head 8th grade volleyball coach and directed the school play. I am pleased to say that I am still coaching middle school volleyball; now over at the Frontier secondary building. I am also looking forward to working with the elementary After School Program. I love being involved in my school. Outside of school I stay busy and involved in my community. Many know me as Miss. Kat where I teach dance at Northern Colorado Academy of Dance Arts. I have been a dancer for 18 years and after taking a year off I am ready to go back. I also love crafting; I work at the local Michaels as the cake decorating instructor and love this job. I enjoy spending time with my family, friends and pets. Some of my hobbies consist of watching movies, drawing, cake decorating, swimming and playing sports. I am very excited to part of the Frontier family and look forward to a successful year for my students and myself.The information that went public around the time of Bardos's May 2015 arrest was infinitely less benign.
According to Fox31, Bardos met the boy while teaching sixth grade at Brentwood, and they forged a close bond.
She even allowed him to sleep over at her home — something that was apparently sanctioned by his mom, who treated her like a trusted member of the family.
But Bardos subsequently told investigators that she'd supplied marijuana to the boy.
And while she initially denied that the two of them had been intimate, the Nineteenth Judicial District DA's office notes that the judge in her case said she had admitted that she'd had sex with the boy "between forty and fifty times over the course of a year."
"Her friendship with his mother and sisters only reinforced the expectation that she hold herself to a high standard which she likewise gained by being in a position of trust," the DA's office adds.
After entering her guilty pleas, Bardos was handed a seven-year sentence in the Colorado Department of Corrections, with a five-year mandatory parole.
In a statement, Chief Deputy District Attorney Thea Carrasco, who prosecuted the case, said, “As prosecutors, we adhere to the law. A person’s background, race, gender, socioeconomic status, occupation, or ties to this community do not make them immune to being held responsible for their actions. It is most unfortunate when someone we entrust with our or our children’s safety and well-being takes advantage of that inherent expectation."
Look below to see Bardos's booking photo, followed by a Fox31 piece from May 2015.
