A former school employee in Connecticut was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly sexually abusing an 11-year-old boy last year.
A criminal investigation began in September after a report was filed about a boy being sexually assaulted. Investigators suspect Alyson Cranick, 42, sexually assaulted the victim in Columbia multiple times in July and August 2022, according to WTIC.
The 11-year-old boy allegedly told a relative about the illicit relationship he had with Cranick. He claimed he corresponded with Cranick via Snapchat, iMessage, and Discord, WVIT reported.
The boy allegedly went on to tell investigators that he and Cranick had sex twice in Columbia and two times in Colchester. Court documents also detailed how they kissed at Horace Porter School in Columbia.
According to CT Insider, an arrest warrant detailed how investigators reviewed Discord messages from July to October 2022, and they showed how “from the beginning of their conversation until September 2022, Cranick encouraged (the victim) to sneak out almost nightly after his family members had gone to sleep.”
Cranick and the victim reportedly met up at night 14 times. Police alleged that Cranick would “emotionally manipulate” the victim into spending time with her. According to WVIT, Cranick made the victim a bracelet with the acronym BFFLWB — which stands for “best friends for life with benefits.”
Police also claimed that the pair’s correspondence stopped in October 2022, after the victim told Cranick to stop contacting him, according to CT Insider.
It is unclear how Cranick and the victim knew each other, but E.O. Smith High School principal Louis DeLoreto told CT Insider that the criminal case did not “involve any of our students.”
According to the news outlet, officials said that Cranick was an administrative assistant for the Region 19 school district, but her employment ended after a Department of Children and Families investigation. School district officials explained that she was hired months after the alleged assaults transpired but before the allegations surfaced in September.
Additionally, WTIC reported that Cranick was a paraprofessional for the Columbia school system during the 2017-2018 school year.
Cranick is charged with first-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a child. Her bond was set at $500,000.
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[Featured image: Alyson Cranick/Connecticut State Police]
