Melissa Petro (PICTURES): NYC Teacher Takes to Facbook, Says She "Saw It Coming"
NEW YORK (CBS/WCBS) Melissa Petro, the New York elementary school teacher whose former stint as a sex worker caused her to be reassigned, admitted to a fellow colleague that she "saw it coming," via the social networking site Facebook, according to a report.
PICTURES: Melissa Petro, Teacher Sex Worker
In an article published on The Huffington Post earlier this month, Petro criticized Craigslist for shutting down its adult services sections, and admitted that she herself used the website from Oct. 2006 to Jan. 2007 to run ads exchanging sex for cash.
"I wrote my own ads, screened my own prospective dates, decided on my own what I would and would not do for money, and - best of all - I kept every penny I earned," she stated in the post.
On Monday the 30-year-old teacher didn't seem fazed about the events following her candid blogging. She even quipped about the her newfound attention with a concerned colleague on Facebook, stating in a post that she wished a vehicle outside was not "one of the 200 creepy dudes now trying to 'friend' me," reports The New York Post.
Petro indicated in The Huffington Post that she knew the risks associated with exposing her sex-for-hire past: "I hope to never again make the choice to trade sex for cash even as I risk my current job and social standing to speak out for an individual's right to do so," she stated.
Petro, an Ohio native, worked at PS 70 for the past three years teaching art to students from kindergarten through the fifth grade, but claimed she did not work as a prostitute while employed by the Department of Education.
Petro's past employment has received mixed reactions from parents. Some seem to think her previous job experiences should be left in the past, while others scoff at the idea that a former prostitute should be allowed to teach their children, according to WCBS.
Petro was reassigned to administrative duty Monday. According to the Department of Education Petro's case has been referred to the head of the Office of Special Investigations, Richard Condon.
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