DEL.ICIO.USCobb teacher arrested for stalking former student
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Friday, August 15, 2008
A Cobb middle school teacher resigned Friday following his arrest for stalking a former student.
Joseph Placanica, an eighth-grade science teacher at Durham Middle School, was arrested Thursday at the Crimes Against Children Unit, said Sgt. Dana Pierce, a Cobb police spokesman.
Placanica, 40, allegedly began an affair with his former student, who is now 17 years old, in May of 2007, Pierce said.
She broke off the relationship with him in April.
Placanica claimed the two had a sexual affair, according to his arrest warrant.
Pierce said there is no evidence the relationship was sexual. But Placanica took the girl to Tennessee at least once, Pierce said.
After she broke off the relationship with him, Placanica continued to try to contact her at work, through text messages and on her MySpace page, he said.
According to Placanica’s arrest warrant, he was seen outside Gold’s Gym on Cobb Parkway in Kennesaw on April 30.
The warrants says: “It had been made clear to him that she did not want to be with him anymore; Mr. Placanica also sent numerous E-Mails and text messages that were unwanted after their relationship was over.”
Placanica was arrested and charged with one count of misdemeanor stalking. He was released on $5,000 bond from the Cobb County Jail.
Jay Dillon, a school district spokesman, said Placanica resigned Friday. Cobb County police notified the district of the arrest on Thursday, he said.
“He acknowledged what he had been charged with and offered his resignation,” Dillon said.
The girl is a student at another Cobb County school.
Placanica started with the district in 1998 as a paraprofessional at Campbell Middle School. He had been a teacher at Durham, on Mars Hill Road in Acworth, since 2000, Dillon said.
Placanica, who is married, could not be reached for comment.
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