Martinelli, who lives in the 1500 block of South Raymond in Naperville, told sexy stories, plied teens with alcohol and performed sex acts on three girls and a boy, prosecutors told a judge yesterday. All the victims were students of Dayspring Christian Academy. Abuse began in 1998 and continued to 2007. The school is affiliated with a church pastored by her father.The alleged victims were all between the ages of 13 and 17 at the time of the abuse, when Martinelli had sex or performed sex acts on them in her home, their homes and in her car. One of the alleged victims came forward in April, years after the alleged abuse, authorities said.
The first victim that investigators have found was 15-year-old when Martinelli began abuse in 1998. She had taught her in 7th and 8th grade, prosecutor said. What began as sexual stories escalated into full abuse of the girl, he said. That abuse lasted almost three years until 2001. A couple of years later, in March 2003, when Martinelli was 26, she preyed on another 15-year-old girl and her brother while their parents were away.Assistant State’s Attorney Kathy Muldoon said Martinelli repeatedly assaulted a teenage girl and her younger brother, whom she had met through the church, from March 2003 to March 2006. Martinelli even babysat for the victims while their parents were out of town once, and sexually assaulted the girl and the boy, again using alcohol to facilitate te assaults. She had sexual intercourse with the boy for about a year, he said. After that she found a 14 year-old-girl who had belonged to the church and was Martinelli’s student in 6th and 8th grades, Conklin said, and engaged in mutual sex acts with the girl until March 2007 when the teen’s family moved out of the area.
According to Martinelli's husband, all of the victims were at one point "good friends" with his wife. He said she has had some psychological problems but had been seeing a therapist recently and was "really, really turning her life around." He said she had stopped teaching at Dayspring in March.
Eliza Martinelli's brother, Nelson Quintana Jr., 27, was also charged with one misdemeanor count of criminal sexual abuse, but further details were not released.
Dayspring Academy is a private Baptist school with students from pre-kindergarten through grade 12, according to online directories. Nelson Quintana Sr. is listed as its principal.
