This could also go in the Florida thread.
nypost.com/2018/10/18/ex-teacher-pleads-guilty-to-sex-with-14-year-old-student/Stephanie Peterson
Stephanie Peterson Volusia County Sheriff's Office
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A former middle school teacher in Florida pleaded guilty to having sex with a 14-year-student in her car and in a barn — and is now facing up to 10 years in prison.
Stephanie Peterson, 27, who previously taught at New Smyrna Beach Middle School, pleaded guilty Tuesday as part of a plea deal to lewd or lascivious battery sex act with a child and transmission of harmful material to minors by electronic means, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports.
Peterson, of New Smyrna Beach, was arrested by deputies in Volusia County in February after she allegedly picked up the eighth-grade student at his home before having sex in her home and her car. They also had sex in a barn behind the student’s house between November 2017 and January, court documents show.
Peterson seemingly began panicking upon realizing that the mother of the teen learned of the alleged illicit trysts and was planning on contacting police, according to records released this month by the State Attorney’s Office.
“So she’s planning on doing something with it,” Peterson wrote to the teen, before adding that she hated the teen. “So much.”
In a subsequent message, Peterson wrote: “Pleas [sic] tell her it was the worst decision of my life and I know it was and idk where my bain was but that I somehow fell in love with you briefly and idk why and I’ll never be the same person because of it.”
Peterson then asked the teen if he thought she should call his mother before pleading with him to cover their tracks.
“Delete everything,” Peterson wrote in reference to the messages.
Peterson, who also pleaded guilty to sending the teen lewd photos, will now face a minimum of five years and up to 10 years in prison when sentenced. One of her attorneys, William Hathaway, told the newspaper that Peterson deserves less than five years behind bars.
Peterson told Circuit Judge Raul Zambrano that she was taking psychotropic medication as prescribed, but did not elaborate.
A spokesman for the 7th Circuit State Attorney’s Office told the News-Journal that Peterson will be required to register as a sex offender.
Peterson declined to comment following Tuesday’s court appearance, as did relatives of the 14-year-old victim, according to the newspaper.