A Texas high school teacher convicted of sexually abusing two teenaged students will not have to register as a sex offender due to a quirk in state laws.
Haeli Noelle Wey, a 28-year-old math teacher from Westlake High School in Austin, Texas, was arrested in October of 2015 for having a sexual relationship with two teenaged students.
The teacher pleaded guilty to two charges of having an improper relationship with the students on February 3.
Wey admitted to initiating a sexual relationship with the first student when she accompanied the boy’s family on a trip to Africa. She later began sexting another student and then started a sexual relationship with him as well. Both students were 17 at the time.
Despite her conviction, though, Wey won’t be serving time in prison as prosecutors recommended a 10-year probation sentence.
But through a quirk in state law, the convicted abuser will not have to register as a sex offender.
As it happens, both students were 17 years old and the age of consent in Texas is 17. Therefore, according to the law, Wey didn’t abuse “children.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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