Rape allegations shock Saugus officials

SAUGUS – Members of the Saugus community are shocked that one of their own, a 38-year-old married mother of two, was accused of raping a 15-year-old Belmonte Middle School boy.Heather Salines is facing charges for allegedly having sex with the boy, whom authorities said she knows through her 13-year-old daughter. Salines was released on $7,500 bail after pleading not guilty to aggravated child rape during her arraignment Tuesday in Salem District Court. Authorities allege the sex took place in a Middleton hotel room.Superintendent Michael Tempesta could not be reached for a statement from the schools, but School Committee member Jeannie Meredith said she had deep sympathy for Salines? children for the “very disturbing” trauma their mother was putting them through. Though Salines? daughter does not attend Belmonte, Meredith said all the students at the school seemed to know about the incident.?My heart breaks for her children and her family,” said Meredith.Town Meeting member Brian Costin, who represents Salines? Precinct 7 neighborhood, said he was “appalled.”?Everyone is appalled when you hear of anything like that, I?m sure,” said Costin. “It?s disheartening when you hear of something like this. I have a lot of grandchildren, and I would be appalled if anything like thats happened to them.”A Salem District Court prosecutor said the case came to light after administrators at Belmonte learned the boy had been showing another student nude photos Salines had allegedly sent to his cellphone, but Meredith said in fact the school had acted much earlier than that. According to Meredith, Salines was regularly dismissing the 15-year-old from school, and administrators caught on to the pattern and put an end to it before the photos were passed around.?I?d like to commend the Belmonte staff for their due diligence, for catching it and not letting it go on,” said Meredith.Published reports say that prosecutors called the boy “vulnerable” because his own mother had died and he saw Salines as a “mother figure.