2 Investigators: Police Interview Former Student Of Ex-CPS Teacher Charged With Sexual Assault
(CBS) -- A former student of a long-time Chicago Public School teacher is speaking publicly for the first time about how he was sexually exploited for years.
The teacher, Robert J. Weaver, is now facing a charge of predatory criminal sexual assault for two incidents involving alleged sexual contact with a family friend's young son who was not his student.
Henry Eygenhuysen heard about the arrest this weekend and contacted CBS 2 investigative reporter Pam Zekman saying Chicago Police recently contacted him about the case.
Zekman disclosed last year that Weaver was allowed by Chicago Public Schools to retire in the wake of a CPS investigation that found, "credible evidence that Weaver engaged in the practice of establishing student relationships to entice them into sexual relationships." Weaver denied the allegations.
Eygenhuysen says he was one of those students. It all began when he was a 6th grader at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School and his parents signed him up for the choir run by Weaver.
"He told me I had a good voice and recommended I have vocal lessons," Eygenhuysen recalled. "He convinced my parents to give me (private) vocal lessons."
Eygenbuysen says there were weekend lessons at Weaver's apartment every couple of weeks that evolved into a sexual relationship.
"He told me it was our special secret and I shouldn't tell anyone," he recalled.
Eygenhuysen said it started with Weaver showing him porno movies, and escalated to various sex acts during the private vocal lessons.
When hr was 16, Eygenhuysen confronted Weaver telling him, "I didn't think it was right what he did to me, that he had gotten me so young. He said he saw something in my eyes the first time he met me on the playground. That was very disgusting to hear."
When he told Weaver he was going to report him to CPS, he recalls Weavers saying, "he could get in a lot of trouble." He says Weaver paid him about $350 to keep quiet.
Eygenhuysen finally did tell CPS what happened and was gratified that it lead to Weaver leaving the school system. But now he wants to warn others fearing that Weaver could be giving private music or voice lessons kids that could be hurtful.
"I want him to know I have been through twenty years of suffering and pain and it has not stopped," he said.
Weaver refused to answer Zekman's questions about whether he is currently giving private music and voice lessons.
His attorney Ellen R. Domph said in court that Weaver is "not a danger to the community," noting that the pending charges are 17 years old.
Weaver, who now works as a bartender, is out on a $50,000 bond.