Ex-teacher pens love letter to fellow inmate
Note has parallels to case involving former student
Cara L. Dickey’s love life keeps landing her in trouble.
The former teacher already is accused of being sexually involved with a former 14-year-old student in a relationship that continued even after she was arrested and ordered not to contact him.
Now she has taken on a new role, as a government witness who wrote a lurid love letter to a fellow inmate that was read aloud in a recent murder trial — a reading that left some jurors cringing and feeling dirty.
In the letter, Dickey professed her undying love for fellow Erie County Holding Center prisoner Donald Benjamin Jr., a 43-year-old convicted cocaine trafficker from Olean.
“I only have one thing left to say,” Dickey wrote near the end of the five-page, handwritten letter. “I love you Donald Benjamin Jr. I love you Donald Benjamin Jr. I love you Donald Benjamin Jr.”
“Baby,” she wrote in another part of the letter, “I don’t care if it’s 10 more years or 100, I’m gonna stick by you. You know that.”
Then she signed the letter with a heart — and the words “Your wife.”
Dickey, 30, a mother of three, is married to someone else. She lost her teaching job at South Buffalo Charter School in June after allegations of an inappropriate relationship with the boy, who disappeared for about 21 hours June 16 and 17.
Dickey was charged with felony counts of unlawful imprisonment and promoting a suicide attempt, along with two misdemeanors.
In October, she was charged with second-degree rape, accused of resuming — in defiance of a court order of protection — her relationship with the boy over the summer.
Dickey’s case is scheduled to go to an Erie County grand jury for possible indictment.
“We’ve been discussing a pre-indictment plea, but she has not pleaded to anything yet,” Assistant District Attorney Colleen Curtin Gable said late last week.
The letter raises new questions about the already intriguing case of Cara Dickey:
• How did she develop a relationship with a male inmate in the Holding Center?
• What does the letter say about her mental state as she faces serious felony charges?
• And how could the airing of that letter affect the case against her?
The letter came to light two weeks ago in the murder trial of Robin Kalinowski, who ultimately was convicted of killing her husband, Kevin. Dickey testified that Robin Kalinowski made incriminating admissions to her, including never expressing sorrow about the death of her husband.
Portions of the letter were read in court when Kalinowski’s defense attorneys cross-examined Dickey.
The handwritten note, with its claims of undying love, is anything but subtle. It contains detailed descriptions of Dickey’s and her love interest’s bodies, and a section filled with explicit sexual desires.
A woman who served as a juror in the Kalinowski trial described Dickey’s 61 minutes of courtroom testimony as “very creepy.” The juror spoke to The Buffalo News on the condition that she not be identified.
“It was a very lurid letter. Some of the things that were said in that letter had everyone in the courtroom cringing,” the juror said. “I felt dirty just listening to it.”
So how could Dickey strike up a romantic interest in a fellow prisoner inside a secure jail where male and female prisoners have little or no contact?
“There’s almost no time whatsoever that they’re in the same area at the same time in the jail,” Undersheriff Brian D. Doyle said of male and female prisoners. “There are times when male prisoners are on one floor and female prisoners on another, and — believe it or not — they develop a relationship by talking through the vents.”
Male and female prisoners also have times when they can see each other, from maybe about 20 feet away, while they’re either waiting to go to court or waiting to see relatives during visiting hours.
Doyle wasn’t familiar with the letter, but it wouldn’t be the first such letter between inmates.
“I’ve seen letters that are similar, that are extremely graphic, professing their love till death do us part, and they’re between inmates who haven’t even met face to face,” he said.
Other law enforcement officials said they do not believe that Dickey knew Benjamin before the two were sent to the Holding Center. They believe the two had little or no contact while serving time in the jail.
“[Benjamin] could be looked at by women as a handsome individual,” one law enforcement official said. “She may have seen him and began fantasizing about him.”
Benjamin was in the Holding Center from May until he was moved to a federal prison earlier this month after receiving a 40-year drug-trafficking sentence from U. S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara.
It is unclear whether Dickey’s letter and her appearance as a prosecution witness in the Kalinowski trial could have any effect on her case.
Anyone convicted of, or pleading guilty to, second-degree rape would be subject to a sentence of two to seven years in prison, plus a listing on the sex-offender registry.
As Dickey wrote in her letter, “I was told, ‘If you cooperate with us, we will advise your judge of your full cooperation. If you choose not to cooperate, we will inform your judge of your lack of cooperation.’ ”
The juror said she believes that Dickey gave truthful testimony about her talks with Kalinowski but that Dickey’s testimony had little impact on the jury’s guilty verdict.
“I thought she really enjoyed being the center of attention on the witness stand,” the juror added. “[Dickey] had this cold, shifty look in her eyes. Her testimony was very eerie for me, and I know a lot of other jurors felt the same way.”
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Reader comments