A former Ohio school superintendent received the maximum sentence of ten years in prison for sexually assaulting two students as a high school principal.
Laura Amero, who was in charge of Windham Exempted Village Schools from 2015 to 2017, got the maximum sentence allowed under Ohio state law after a judge dismissed her attorney’s claims that her actions stemmed from mental illness, the Record-Courier reported.
In addition to her ten-year sentence, Amero, 35, will also have to register as a Tier III sex offender every 90 days and pay a $500 fine.
Amero, of Austintown, stepped down from her position as superintendent in June 2019 after her April 2019 arrest.
She pleaded guilty in November to two counts of sexual battery and sexual imposition, admitted in court that she had sex with a 16-year-old student and tried to have sex with another boy while she served as principal of Windham Junior/Senior High School, WFMJ reported.
“Nobody goes into the field of education to hurt their students,” Amero, who is pregnant, said Monday. “I never imagined I would hurt my kids but I did. I allowed lines to be crossed that never should have been crossed.”
The former principal is due to report to prison on April 1, but may be allowed to start her sentence later so her child is not born behind bars. Her child is due to be born in mid-March.
Most teacher-student sexual misconduct cases end with the teacher getting a lesser sentence or probation. In one recent case, an Alabama judge sentenced a former teacher to time served and probation for having sex with one of the students and sending sexually explicit material to multiple students.
The former teacher pleaded guilty to the charges the day before she was set to appear in court for them.