Tampa: Teacher accused of sex with special education student pleads guilty

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"Phyllis M." wrote: Teacher accused of sex with special education student pleads guilty Thursday, 23 Oct 2008 TAMPA, Florida -- It was bad enough that was the fourth teacher arrested in a single year in Hillsborough County on charges of having sex with a student. What was worse was that Middleton High's Principal Carl Green suspended a student who tried to warn him about . "I was trying to tell them what was going on,"

says Shatavia Kendricks, and she was proven right when police stopped 's 16-year-old lover driving her Jeep without a license, and the special education student's friends told officers about the affair. The School Board took a pasting, and a lawsuit threatened by Kendricks' attorney Darryl Rouson. "People are just upset that the children with emotional disabilities can be taken advantage of by a teacher like this, and the school can have some notice that this is going on and not take it more seriously and do a more thorough investigation," Rouson said. Now, a year to the day after her arrest,

is owning up, pleading guilty to all the charges, two counts of illegal sex with a minor, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and allowing an unlicensed driver to drive her car. In all, it's enough for up to 30 years in prison. Prosecutor Duran told the judge he was in her class, he is borderline mentally retarded in a special education class at that school. Judge J. Padgett swore in , asking her, "how do you plead?" "Guilty," she replied. Prosecutors offered no deals, pointing to the fired teacher's confessions on tape, and strong scientific evidence. Duran telling FOX 13, "we had DNA evidence that we had located at her apartment." 's public defenders knew how tough a jury would look at her case, at sentencing they'll say she's mentally ill, and try to cut her prison time. The sentencing is set

for early December. http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7709104 & version=1 & locale=EN-US & layoutCode=TSTY & pageId=3.2.1