A former New Smyrna Beach Middle School teacher will face between five and 10 years in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday to having sex with a 14-year-old student and sending him lewd pictures.
27-years-old Stephanie Peterson was sentenced by Volusia Circuit Judge Raul Zambrano after hearing from the victim’s mother and grandmother. Zambrano ruled that Peterson must also serve probation and register as a sex offender.
Peterson entered a guilty plea as part of a plea deal to one count of a lewd or lascivious battery sex act with a child, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. She also entered a guilty plea to one count of transmission of harmful material to minors by electronic means, a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
Prosecutors dropped a second count of lewd or lascivious battery sex act with a child as part of the plea deal.
The authorities say that Peterson and the student began their tryst in November. A detective went to the victim’s home on Tuesday after he told his parents about his relationship with the teacher. The victim also said that Peterson came to his house at night and picked him up “around 11 p.m. on several occasions and [brought] him back around 1 or 2 a.m.”
Peterson’s Facebook page, which has been taken down, showed photos of her fishing and one photo of her wedding — Ferri is her husband’s surname. Her hometown was listed as New Smyrna Beach.
The plea agreement also allowed her attorneys – Aaron Delgado and William Hathaway – to file a motion seeking a jail term lower than five years listed as the minimum in the plea.
In the motion, the attorneys stated that one of the reasons Peterson deserved a lesser prison sentence was because the 14-year-old victim was “a willing participant.”
Of course, this makes little sense as Florida’s age of consent stands at 18 years old, meaning the victim in question was unable to provide legal consent to what transpired.
According to psychologist Dr. Lisa Potash, who testified at Wednesday’s sentencing, Peterson is bipolar and at risk for suicide. She believes Peterson’s “irrational and impulsive” behavior was spurred by a manic episode she had had and said her relationship with the boy was simply to seek attention. That said, Dr. Potash concluded that Peterson is low risk as a potential re-offender.
More details of this incident from Opposing Views:
Peterson’s interactions with the student spanned from November 1, 2017, to January 31, 2018. The teen had asked her for her phone to check his Instagram and forgot to sign out. Later that night, he got a message on his Instagram from Peterson, with the communication continuing on Snapchat.
Peterson sent the teen nude pictures, including one where she was in the shower, her face visible. She drove to his house at night and he would sneak out to meet her. They had sex in her car in the driveway, reports state. Peterson performed oral sex on the teen on her couch in her home, and in a barn behind his home, twice.
The abuse was revealed when another teacher called the teen’s home offering to tutor him, and his mother jokingly asked him if the teacher was going to molest him. The teen began crying, blurting, “Anyone could molest you.”
The motion states that Peterson deserves a lighter sentence because she’s already suffered consequences – she lost her career as a teacher and her standing in the community.
The motion also lists Peterson’s “troubled relationship” with her biological father as a reason for granting her a lesser sentence.
As she awaits her turn to testify and be sentenced after requesting a lighter sentence, Peterson has begun working again, but there is no information on what this job is.
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Sources: OpposingViews, News-Journal