An Ohio middle school teacher has been handed a one-year prison sentence for having sex with a 14-year-old boy in her classroom on the last day of school last year.
Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Timothy O’Connell sentenced 32-year-old Jessica Langford, who is a married mother of one child, to one year in jail and five years of probation for the May of 2017 incident, according to the Daily Mail.
Langford was arrested last year when she was accused of sexually molesting the teen inside her classroom. Prosecutors said she engaged in sexual relations with the boy for half an hour and only stopped because the school principal had knocked on her classroom door. She was ultimately convicted on all six counts of sexual battery and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
The nine-year math teacher expressed contrition in court saying, “There isn’t a day goes by that I don’t wish I could do things differently. I know I am fully responsible.”
Because she had no criminal history, the judge gave her only a year in jail.
The victim’s father also spoke out and asked for the maximum sentence, which could have been 15 years behind bars. “She was entrusted with the care of the children and students and threw it away for her own sexual gratification,” he said during the sentencing phase of the woman’s trial.
The aggrieved father also said that his son is embarrassed and has been bullied because of the trial. He added that his son “feels helpless and alone.”
During the trial, the victim told the jury that after the principal had knocked on the classroom door and interrupted their sexual tryst, the teacher told him to lie about why he was in the classroom for so long. He boy said the lie she wanted him to tell made him feel that their encounter was wrong.
Langford was initially put on administrative leave after being arrested, but she later resigned her position as a math teacher for the Miamisburg, Ohio, City Schools District.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.