Parents mum about aide charged in P.S. 196 rape

Four days after authorities charged a Forest Hills teacher’s aide with statutory rape that occurred seven years ago, parents of children who attend the elementary school were tight-lipped about the situation.
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown charged Lois Enden, 55, who worked as a teacher’s aide at P.S. 196 since 1990, of engaging in sexual activity with a then 11-year-old student seven years ago.
“The defendant is alleged to have betrayed her position of trust at a Forest Hills middle school by taking advantage of a young student,” Brown said. “The defendant’s alleged conduct is not simply a violation of law but of society’s innate code of ethics.”
The former student, now 19, only recently reported the incident to the police at the urging of a friend after he ran into Enden while playing football at a local park.
According to the charges, the complainant alleged that Enden began the inappropriate contact when he was in fourth grade with kissing, and that she had sexual intercourse with him numerous times in both of their homes between 1999 and June 2000, when the boy graduated.
“I was very surprised,” said Andrea Almendral, a mother of a kindergartner at P.S. 196. “I worked with her on Fridays. She ran the lunchroom everyday; she’s been wonderful.”
While picking up students from school, most parents declined to comment on the charges, and many said they had not even heard about the incident.
Although the case happened seven years ago, the statute of limitations for child victims of rape cases does not begin until the child notifies the authorities of the incident or reaches 18, according to Brown.
“They may be too young or too frightened to disclose the abuse, their abuser may be in a position of authority over them or they may be under the financial or physical control of their abuser,” Brown said.
Since the charges, Enden has been suspended from the school indefinitely, and if convicted, she could face seven years in prison.