Teacher faces prison, loses license

February 14 , 2007

Adapted from the Erie Times News

The prosecution said a student was the victim of a then-teacher's crime.

The packed courtroom at the woman's sentencing showed she affected more than the student when she started a sexual relationship with the girl who was 14 years old at the time.

The student, who has since graduated from the high school, told the judge she forgives the teacher and wants everyone to move on.

The woman's supporters asked for her to be allowed to serve any sentence at home. They said the English teacher had already paid for her crime with her career and reputation.

The teen victim's mother and a school guidance counselor asked the judge not to lose sight of the damage inflicted when teachers cross the line with their students.

The woman did not use "a weapon you could see" against her victim, the teen's mother said in court. "What she used was manipulation and mind games and deceit to drive a wedge between my daughter and me."

The judge sentenced the woman to six to 20 months in county prison followed by 20 months of probation on two counts of indecent assault. He said the woman is eligible for work release.

As a part of the sentence, she must also give up her license to teach, if she had not done so already, the judge said.

"The court is concerned and troubled by what occurred," said the judge.

The teacher-student relationship is one of the "most important relationships in our society," he said. Parents, he said, "trust that people who teach their children will act appropriately. Especially teenagers, who are often immature, confused and always vulnerable."

The woman pleaded no contest to two counts of indecent assault stemming from repeated encounters with the teen at the woman’s residence between 2002 and 2004.

The student was 14 and 15 at the time. The teacher was 24 and 25.

Sexual contact with a child younger than 16 by someone at least four years older is illegal because the child is not old enough to consent under the law.

"I made a mistake that is going to haunt me for the rest on my life," the woman told the judge. "I cannot find an appropriate word to express my remorse."

The woman said she has lost her career, some friends and family, her dignity, self-respect and "financial, social and physical freedom" as a result of the case.

The victim, now a freshman in college, asked the judge to let that damage be enough for the woman. The victim said she did not want the judge to send the woman to prison.

"The relationship was consensual," she said. "I do forgive her for everything that has happened. I would like to go our separate ways and the case to end in the least severe way possible."

The teen's mother said the woman did not make a single mistake. Rather, she said, the woman made it "over and over and over."

The mother said the woman did not stop her behavior until her daughter went to the police during her senior year of high school and complained.

"I hope I get my daughter back. This lady acted like a thief," she said. "She stole my child."

The judge acknowledged the woman's remorse, her clean prior criminal record and letters from supporters that told him the woman was known as a good teacher, a good daughter and a good friend.

But that did not change the fact that the charges in the case were serious, the judge said.

The judge acknowledged the teen's forgiveness of her teacher. But he also pointed to a letter the student had written earlier in the case when she told the judge that the relationship had caused her to suffer depression and other problems.

The woman faced a maximum of four years in a state prison, or two years on each count of indecent assault. The judge's sentence was in the standard range of the sentencing guidelines.

The woman no longer teaches at the school, where officials have declined comment about when she left.

A guidance counselor and teacher told the judge the case harmed the school and the teaching profession.

She said that administrators tried to investigate reports of a relationship between the woman and the student in the student's junior year, but the student denied it.

She said she told the woman that "clear boundaries" must be maintained between teachers and students.

When one teacher violates the trust placed in teachers, the guidance counselor said, it "makes it exceedingly difficult for the rest of us to do our jobs and do them well."

The guidance counselor said the school teaches students there are consequences to their actions.

"It would send the wrong message to students if [this woman] is not held responsible," she said.